A day in the life of a medical student from Nepal

“Dr Govinda KC, an orthopaedic surgeon, went on hunger strike for the 16th time in January 2019, protesting against corruption and lack of quality education in Nepal. He was widely supported by medical students all over the country. I participated in some of the protest rallies too,1” says Nabin Sundas, a third year medical student who attends a private medical school in Kathmandu with a scholarship from the Ministry of Education.

Of the 19 medical colleges in Nepal, only four are public.2 “Many people say that private medical colleges are business oriented institutions that are only concerned with money,” Sundas explains. “There has been a lot of news about corruption in private medical colleges. They’ve attracted media attention because they charge higher fees than [specified in] the government guidelines, and students with lower rankings in the medical entrance exams but whose families have …