By Nayak Paudel
Kathmandu, Mar. 21: Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS) was established on October 2011 by upgrading then existing Karnali Zonal Hospital in Jumla. As per the Academy’s Act, the institution was established to provide convenient health-related services for people living in the remote areas across Karnali at an affordable cost.
Since its inception, KAHS has become a beacon of hope for establishing a better health care service within the region as well as offering quality medical education. For the past 11 years, the institution has been living up to people’s expectations in achieving educational excellence, patient-centred care, public health advocacy and collaborative community engagement for health promotion and wellness.
However, the academy and the government has continuously faltered in running MBBS classes while also struggling to ensure affordable medical education.
“The academy has been awaiting permission to operate MBBS courses for the last nine years. Several aspects have stalled this process overtime, but now it’s different,” said Dr. Mangal Rawal, Acting Vice Chancellor at KAHS, over a telephone conversation with The Rising Nepal.
Officials and authorities also informed that Karnali Academy of Health Sciences was receiving all the necessary assistance in a bid to make the academy eligible to run MBBS classes. In the past, the academy had got permission to run Doctor of Medicine in General Practices and Emergency Medicine (MDGP) course.
According to Dr. Rawal, there are certain criteria that the academy has to meet before calling the officials from Medical Education Commission (MEC) to inspect the institution. The MEC is the authoritarian body regulating medical education in Nepal and is the go-to place for approving affiliations and gaining permission to run high-level medical courses.
“There has been a delay in finalising our faculty body. We are currently working towards adding proficient medical professionals to our faculty before calling in the MEC to inspect the academy,” added Dr. Rawal.
According to the Accreditation Standards for the MBBS Programme 2017, the role and responsibilities of faculty in running the MBBS programme is considered to be of paramount importance.
Under faculty, the standards have stated a requirement for the number of professor, associate professors/readers, and assistant professors/lecturers along with their eligibility criteria for a medical institution awaiting permission for MBBS.
“There will not be any more delays and soon the academy will be enrolling prospective students in its first MBBS programme. Given that KAHS still has a few criteria to fulfill before it receives the green signal, the much-awaited course is likely to start from next year onwards instead of the upcoming session,” claimed Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, the governing body of the academy of health sciences.
Meanwhile, the MEC has already published a notice calling candidates to fill the form for upcoming common MBBS entrance examination – the first of its kind in Nepal. According to a notice on March 16, the commission will be accepting online application beginning from March 22 until April 25.
As the commission is yet to announce the upcoming seat structure at the medical institutions, swift process at the KAHS could allow it to open its door for MBBS students by meeting all the necessary standards. However, it might not be easy.
“Meeting the standards means a major victory to ensure quality health services and medical education. We are yet to complete our faculties and upgrade some of our infrastructure.
While we are picking up pace in addressing these issues we don’t want to move ahead in haste and are looking to leave no stones unturned,” elucidated Dr. Rawal.
The MEC officials also informed that they were awaiting the KAHS to meet the standards.
“Once KAHS completes the criteria, we will go for an inspection. Based on the inspection, we will decide whether the academy is eligible to run MBBS classes or not. We are positive about the academy’s preparedness and expect the academy to operate MBBS classes at the earliest,” informed Dilli Ram Luintel, member-secretary at MEC.