Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Medical Education Commission (MEC) has decided that private medical colleges must provide the increased subsistence allowance to resident doctors effective from the date of the decision.
The 19th meeting of the commission held on Monday also directed resident doctors to immediately end their protests and resume work and studies.
The 16th meeting of the MEC held on Febraury 7 had decided that private medical colleges must pay resident postgraduate (PG) doctors a monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 48,737, equivalent to that of government colleges. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
However, resident doctors launched a protest after private medical collges denied them the increased subsistence allowance. Private medical colleges had insisted that they cannot raise subsistence allowance unless fee structure and seat allocation for their MBBS and BDS programs are revised.
Meanwhile, the meeting also accepted the resport of an 11-member task force led by Health Secretary Dr Deepak Kafle formed to revise seats and fee structure for the MBBS and BDS programs. It has also formed a technical committee under Prof Dr Sujan Babu Marahattha to review the seat allocation and fee structure for MBBS and BDS programs in private medical colleges to address concerns of private medical colleges.
