Kathmandu, October 26

More than 100 Nepali students, who studied medicine in Bangladesh, are likely to be barred from licensing examination to be conducted by Nepal Medical Council this year after NMC decided to change the criteria for internship.

NMC has decided to conduct licensing examination on December 8. NMC has also made public new accreditation standards for MBBS/BDS programmes which state that medical students studying inside the country require six-month internship to meet the criteria to appear the exam and the students who have studied from foreign universities have to complete one year internship to meet the criteria.

Nabin Yadav, president of Nepalese Medical Student Association Bangladesh,said that it was an unfair decision of Nepal Medical Council.  “Those studying in the country can take NMC licensing exam only after six months of internship. But Nepali students pursuing medical education in foreign universities must complete one-year internship. What is the logic behind this?” asked Yadav.”More than 100 students who studied medicine in Bangladesh were planning to take the NMC licensing exam, but the NMC has dealt a huge blow to them,” he said.

“There is no need for setting different criteria for students studying in foreign universities and students studying in Nepal,” shared Dr Dhundi Raj Paudel.

President of Nepal Medical Council Dr Dharma Kanta Baskota said the guidelines on the standards for MBBS/BDS programmes for appearing licensing examination was in effect since 2007, but it was not implemented effectively till date.

“The criteria for internship for students studying inside the country and abroad have already been formulated in the guideline which was implemented in 2007. We have not taken any new decision,” he said.