Kathmandu, October 28

Nepalese Medical Students Association, Bangladesh, has threatened to launch protest against the Nepal Medical Council if it does not scrap accreditation standards for MBBS and BDS programmes.

Issuing a press statement today, Nepalese Medical Students Association, Bangladesh, requested NMC to withdraw its guideline, which it said was discriminatory.

Nepal Medical Council on October 26 had announced accreditation standards for the 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.

Earlier, NMC allowed medical students in and outside the country to participate in the licensing examination after completing six-month internship.

The release issued by Nepalese Medical Students Association, Bangladesh, states that medical students would not accept the discriminatory decision of NMC. “NMC decision has discouraged students from pursuing medical degrees in foreign countries. The decision will affect thousands of medical students, who studied at medical colleges in Bangladesh.”

Navin Yadav, president of Nepalese Medical Students Association, Bangladesh, shared that while it took six years for students studying in Bangladesh to complete MBBS, those pursuing the degree in Nepal completed their course in five-and-a-half years. “Students in Bangladesh spend six months more to complete their study. It would take longer for them to complete their course, if NMC extends the duration of internship by six more months,” he said.

Similarly, Priyanka Pandey of Rajbiraj, who is studying MBBS at Armed Force Medical College, Bangladesh, said she had cancelled her visit to Nepal after she got information that she would need to undergo additional six-month internship there.