Govt scraps MBBS quota for army men

[नेपाली]

The government has scrapped two MBBS seats in the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan reserved by the royal regime for the army.

The Ministry of Health and Population sent a letter to the BPKIHS this week asking it to cancel the reservation.

According to a source at the BPKIHS, the institute’s executive committee meeting this week will take a final decision in this regard. Deputy manager of the institute Akshya Gautam said the ministry’s letter has made it easier for them to decide on the quota. “The institute was in a dilemma over whether or not to give continuity to the quota. This dilemma is now over,” Gautam said, adding that a new batch of students for the MBBS course will be taken in soon.

The controversial arrangement came into light after The Himalayan Times ran a story on it in its August 1 issue. The current MBBS students have warned that they would launch an agitation if the institute failed to revise the quota arrangement.

An executive committee meeting of the institute chaired by the then minister of state for health and population, Mani Lama, had decided on March 29 to add and reserve five more seats for Indian nationals at different levels and two for the army.

The source said a majority of the participants at the meet had protested the quota for the army. However, the minister stuck to the decision saying that it was an ‘order from above,’ the source added.

The BPKIHS accepts 100 students for the MBBS course every year. However, Gautam said the institute would continue reserving seats for Indians.