Kathmandu- Resident doctors studying in private medical colleges will receive a maintenance allowance equivalent to the government level (8th level).

The 16th meeting of the Medical Education Commission held on Friday has taken this decision, informed the Secretariat of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

In the meeting of the commission held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Singha Durbar, it was decided to maintain the same facilities for resident doctors at 48,700 per month based on discussions with the concerned parties and reports received. Currently, private medical colleges are providing a maintenance allowance of 20,000 per month.

The secretariat has said that a decision will be taken soon from the commission meeting after further discussions on other issues. The meeting also discussed the issue of charging an annual fee of 2.3 million from students who do not agree to work after study in the concerned college for two years.

In the meeting, Private Medical College Association Chairman Prof. Dr. Gyanendra Man Singh Karki had urged a decision to be made after the working procedures were finalized. However, the secretariat said that Prime Minister Oli, co-chairmen Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Poudel and Minister for Education, Science and Technology Bidya Bhattarai had made it clear that they could not back down from their commitment to providing equal facilities to resident doctors.