Government initiates process to amend Medical Education Act: Minister Basnet

Minister for Health and Population Mohan Bahadur Basnet today said the government had initiated the process of amending the Medical Education Act. Talking to media persons here, he said the amendment of the Act was being discussed at the Council of Ministers.

The existing provision in the Act has prevented health education from advancing as expected, he argued. “Prime Minister is ready about the amendment. The Cabinet now will discuss the matter.” Mentioning that the meeting was called two times to discuss the issue, he said the amendment process had been carried forward. The existing Act could cause problems in the medical and health technology in the next five years, prompting its amendment, he reasoned. Quotas in the medical sector would be added as the sector is making do with the quotas managed 22 years ago, he said.

“The state should not drag its feet to do good things for the interest of the country just because a person threatens to go on a hunger strike. We will go ahead by implementing positive things in the Act and removing bad things.” The government would make a procedure and carry out monitoring relating to the quality of medical education and fixing the fees, he said. The current education policy would be somehow flexible, he said.

The government was at work to be flexible about medical education by allowing a health institute with 100 to 300 beds to conduct nursing and paramedic courses and a health facility with more than 300 beds to run MBBS courses, he informed. In another context, the minister said preparations were underway to bring the tax system on tobacco products under the Ministry of Health. The amounts raised from the tax would be used on increasing the quality of hospitals and managing hospital employees, he said.