KATHMANDU, JULY 17

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari underlined the need to ensure an individual's access to health education as per the aspiration of the people.

At a function organised on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Institute of Medicine here today, the president said health service was directly connected with the lives of people.

Stating that 'prevention is better than cure', the president was of the view that medical science should benefit from the gradual process of development in science and technology. Describing health and education opportunities as one of the major factors for rural-urban migration, the president drew the attention of bodies concerned towards that end.

'The constitution has ensured people's access to quality healthcare services and the IoM has contributed to the production of skilled health professionals.'

Also speaking on the occasion, Minister for Health and Population Bhawani Prasad Khapung said it was challenging to ensure healthcare services in the rural areas and it had posed a challenge in the implementation of people's fundamental right to basic health services.

'Nepal has achieved huge success in the vaccination drive against COVID-19, and so far 11,952 people have lost their lives to the virus. But now we have stronger health mechanism and we hope the situation will not worsen as in the past if the crisis period returns.' He took time to say that Nepal had achieved significant progress in heart surgery, and liver and kidney transplant.

According to TU Vice–chancellor Dharmakant Baskota, under the IoM, 2,300 people receive OPD services and 700 in-patient services on a daily basis while IoM Dean Prof Dr Dibya Singh Shah said the TU Teaching Hospital that had started services as a 301-bed health facility currently has 1,000 beds.

Under the IoM, Bachelor to PhD degree programmes are available. It was established in 1972 with the support of the Japan Government and has seven constituent, one central and 15-affiliated colleges across the country.

It is the hub for study, teaching and research for around 50 streams under the medical sciences.

IoM former deans Prof Dr Mohin Shah, Prof Dr Hemanga Dixit, Prof Dr Gopal Prasad Acharya, Prof Dr Madan Prasad Upadhayay, Prof Dr Bhishma Raj Prasai, Prof Dr Hari Govinda Shrestha, Prof Dr Arun Sayami, Prof Dr Dharma Kanta Baskota, Prof Dr Rakesh Prasad Shreevastav, Prof Dr Keshav Prasad Singh and Prof Dr Jagadish Prasad Agrawal were felicitated on the occasion.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.