Over 100 nursing colleges without hospital likely to shut starting

Rubi Rauniyar/ June 18: Over 100 nursing colleges that do not have their own building will not be able to admit students from the new academic session as per the binding rules of the National Medical Education Commission (NMEC).

At a time when there is a high risk of COVID pandemic across the country and there is a need for more nurses, the NMEC has made it mandatory for a nursing college to have its own building with 100 beds. With this rule coming into effect, as many as 3,600 students will be deprived of nursing education.

According to the NMEC Act 2018, the colleges providing nursing education must have their own 100-bed hospital. The commission had earlier given two years’ time for nursing colleges to build their own hospital. The two-year deadline ended last year.

Even after two years, the schools under the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) have not been able to build their own hospital. Even the nursing colleges run with the affiliation of universities also do not have their own hospitals.

CTEVT Spokesperson Binod Badal said that five colleges affiliated to the CTEVT do not have their own hospitals. According to him, 90 nursing schools affiliated with the CTEVT do not have their own hospitals, while 20 other nursing colleges under or affiliated to other universities also do not have their own hospitals.

Spokesperson Badal informed that despite repeated written requests to the commission, no solution has been found so far. As a result, 3,600 students, who have passed the SEE this year, will not be able to get nursing education under CTEVT.

At present, there are 113 private health schools affiliated with CTEVT. Of these, 90 schools do not have their own private hospitals. In this case, those who participated in the SEE this year will not be admitted to the three-year diploma course.

“These schools were set up at a time when there was no law regarding the hospital building,” Badal told Republica. “So far, the council has a system of conducting health education programs in collaboration with other hospitals.”

He added, “Even CTEVT does not have its own hospital. It cannot be established within two years. The government should give a way out to advance the teaching of nursing education.”

Dilli Luintel, member secretary and spokesperson of the Medical Education Commission, said that there was a complaint about the problems seen in nursing. Although discussions were held on the issue, they were unable to find any solution as the Act needs to be amended. “Nursing sector has a lot of problems. The Act itself was introduced to address these bad practices,” he told Republica. “The commission has proposed amendments to address the problems seen in the Act.”