Kathmandu, June 13

Medical Education Commission has decided to conduct common entrance examination for students seeking to pursue a medical education.

A six-member committee headed by Professor Dr Jagdish Agrawal, dean of the Institute of Medicine, has been formed to make guidelines, rules and regulations for holding entrance examination. Earlier, separate entrance examinations were conducted by different universities for MBBS/BDS studies.

“Students will benefit as they will not have to visit different universities to take the entrance test,” said Laljung Chauhan, secretary at Medical Education Commission.

The Medical Education Commission has also formed a five-member committee to allocate seats for medical colleges across the country. The seats will be allocated after inspection of colleges. The committee is headed by Nepal Medical Council Chair Dharma Kanta Baskota.

The government had formed Medical Education Commission to check irregularities in the medical education sector. The commission is an independent body responsible for making policies for affiliation of medical colleges to universities.

The government had formed the commission on the recommendation of the Mathema-led Commission and as per the agreement signed with Dr Govinda KC, a senior orthopaedic surgeon at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Health and education ministers are co-chairs of the commission.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had authenticated the National Medical Education Ordinance as per Article 114 of the constitution. As per the ordinance, there is a provision for the formation of a commission under the chairmanship of the prime minister.