A total of 185 MBBS students have failed in the licensing examination held by the Nepal Medical Council on Saturday. The examination was supposed to be taken by 668 students, but two of them remained absent, NMC said after publishing the results on Sunday.

The MBBS students are to take the test before they obtain a license for practice. Although the NMC is yet to name the students who failed, officials involved in the examination said a majority of them have studied abroad. Twenty-seven of the 38 students taking the Bachelor’s in Dental Surgery (BDS) exam have passed the test, NMC said. In this test, too, students who have studied abroad are the ones to fail, an NMC source said.

Also, 13 doctors have failed the special examination of postgraduate medical doctors held by the NMC on December 1. Among the 295 applicants, eight did not show up for the examination. Among the failing doctors, 12 had studied in China, the Philippines and Russia, while one was a product of Manipal Medical School, Pokhara, it is learnt.

According to NMC Chairman Dr Damodar Gajurel,  the exam will ensure that only quality doctors with special training in their respective fields will go out among the public. He said the NMC, the regulatory body of medical studies and practitioners, will not register doctors as specialists if they fail the examination, meaning they will only be allowed to practice as MBBS doctors and not as specialists. Dr Gajurel said doctors who have completed their three-year master’s degree courses in Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Surgery (MS) and Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) abroad and in the country appeared in the special examination, while those who have completed their MBBS attended the mandatory examination.

“With this result, we will once again make stricter regulations for those going abroad for studies to ensure that they get quality education,” Dr Gajurel said.

source: The Kathmandu Post,17 Dec 2012