Private medical colleges reject government-approved stipend for resident doctors

File photo of Chitwan Medical College/Representative image

Kathmandu, February 9 — Operators of private medical colleges have refused to provide a stipend equivalent to that of a government medical officer to resident doctors.

The Association of Private Medical and Dental Colleges of Nepal has expressed its inability to offer the stipend equivalent to the government’s 8th-level salary for resident doctors enrolled in private institutions.

This decision follows the Medical Education Commission's 16th meeting, held last Friday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, which had approved the stipend equivalent to that of a government medical officer for resident doctors studying at private medical colleges.

Following this decision, the Medical Education Commission issued a circular instructing universities and medical colleges to implement the directive.

However, private medical college operators have disagreed with the Commission’s decision and issued a statement of dissent.

Association president Prof. Dr. Gyanendra Man Karki confirmed that a "Note of Dissent" was presented during the Commission's meeting.

The statement also mentioned that postgraduate programs cannot be run without a guaranteed source of funding, making it impossible to offer the stipend for postgraduate teaching with a government-level medical officer’s salary.

Earlier, on January 27, Health Minister Pradeep Yadav and Education Minister Bidya Bhattarai had made a three-point decision regarding the stipend.

The decision included offering stipends of 25,000 for the first year, 30,000 for the second year, and 35,000 for the third year to resident doctors studying in postgraduate programs at private medical colleges.

However, doctors opposed this decision and launched protests beginning January 29.

Following the protests, the Commission met on Friday and decided to provide a stipend equivalent to that of a government medical officer as per the doctors' demands.

The association had previously stated that they were unable to provide a stipend at the level of a government medical officer.

The Commission had previously issued a notice in June, ensuring that the salary scale for private medical colleges should not fall below that of a government medical officer.

In response, the private medical colleges had objected and informed the Commission that they would not be able to pay such stipends.

Despite filling out the ‘Self-Appraisal’ forms, the process was halted after the communication.