The Medical Education Commission has formed an 11-member task force to review the number of student seats and fee structures for MBBS and BDS programmes in private medical colleges. The task force formed under the leadership of Dipak Kafle, secretary at the Ministry of Education, has been given 10 days to submit its recommendations.

The Commission’s 18th meeting, chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, agreed to reassess the current quotas and fee caps. Prime Minister Oli chairs the commission.

The task force has Dr Bikas Devkota, Dr Mohan Sharma, Dr Manoj Humagain, Dr Bhagawan Koirala, Dr Ramesh Kant Adhikari, Dr Dibya Singh Shah, Dr Mangal Rawal, Dr Anil Karki and Dr Gyanendra Karki as members.

The Commission’s decision follows growing discontent from private medical colleges and medical students. Earlier, the meeting held in February had decided that the postgraduate (PG) medical students should be provided with the allowances similar to those from government colleges. However, the private colleges have threatened to halt PG teaching while the resident doctors have taken to the streets and boycotted services, demanding Rs48,000 as a monthly living allowance, equivalent to their counterparts in public institutions.

College operators argue that without financial backing from the government, they cannot afford the allowance. Some have demanded an increase in seat allocations and fees, particularly for international students.

The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for April 27.