KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 4

More than 225 Nepali students who are pursuing medical education in China have been denied entry into China to complete their course. Apparently, their vaccination certificates are not being accepted, though, ironically, most of them have been vaccinated with Chinese Vero Cell vaccines.

To add to their woes, the Nepal Medical Council is not allowing those among them who have completed their MBBS to do internship/house surgeonship in Nepal.

Although the Government of Nepal took a decision on December 29 to allow Nepali students who have finished MBBS course in China to do internship in Nepal, Nepal Medical Council's refusal to recognise students' online practical studies, has added to the woes of Nepali students.

These MBBS students have been protesting for the past eight months, yet no government authority has taken note of their plight.

A 2015 MBBS batch student told THT that Chinese universities conducted practical classes online and student in Nepal took that class, but the NMC was not ready to accept these classes. NMC wants students to do in-person practical training.

These stranded MBBS students are those who had returned to Nepal after cities in China imposed lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The 2015 MBBS batch student said Chinese universities told them that they would issue their academic certificate in time if they could complete their internship in Nepal.

The student said governing bodies - the health ministry, the education ministry, and university dean's office should jointly come up with a decision on students' practical and theoretical studies and its completion.

'The Ministry of Education and Technology has taken up the issue,' said Shree Krishna Giri, vice-chair at the Medical Education Commission.

The Medical Education Commission issues equivalence certificates to MBBS students who have studied in foreign countries.

The Medical Education Commission said in its notice issued earlier that it would issue equivalence certificate if the Nepal Medical Council gave them certificates of completion of their internship.

NMC issues equivalence certificates after students complete their internship as per its guidelines.

NMC President Bhagwan Koirala told THT that the NMC recognised online classes only for theoretical subjects, but for practical classes it required students to attend in-person classes as that was linked to the quality of education.

'There are about 120 students in our batch who completed their studies eight months ago, but have not been allowed to do their internship in Nepal. Our juniors have completed their MBBS.

This uncertainty and delay will affect our career as there is an age bar for government jobs, including jobs in the army and Nepal Police. Moreover, we cannot pursue further studies in time,' the student said.

THT sent a message to Spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Nepal seeking his comments on China's refusal to allow Nepali students to re-enter China to pursue their academic course, but the spokesperson did not respond to the request.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.