-Shubham Shrestha
Doctor, a common answer given by most of the child when he/ she is asked about what they want to become in their future. But with the age and after knowing about the opportunities one gets in Nepal as a doctor and the economic burden for studying medical science many people choose field other than medical.
People say medical is a profession with high earning so students are choosing medical as their interest of study. But the real cause of medical being chosen in case of Nepal is for uplifting its health status. There are many cases of people dying with simple diseases in rural areas of Nepal. Such condition of health in our nation has focused many students towards medical with a motive to serve the society.
After the outbreak of COVID -19 as a pandemic with many cases even in Nepal, now the students are more determined to study medical realizing its necessity for the country. The economy of the country has fallen down. If the number of cases rises like in our neighboring country India, Nepal can’t sustain it. Nepal isn’t prepared for such medical crisis. So, the new generation of students are interested in medical related research for solving any such problem which might come in near future. These generation of students have realized the need of medical as a pillar of Nations development.
As per the survey done by Medical Aspirant’s library (a FB page helping medical entrance preparing students) it was found that 30 % of people preparing for medical entrance are interested in medical related research for which they have chosen medical field. 39% of these aspirants are studying medical for serving the society to uplift the health status of Nepal. Around 15% of students have faced certain incidents where lack of health services was realized which perceived them for studying medical. This survey showed very few people interested in medical due to its high income and wide opportunities in the world.
With the fact that the cost of medical study is too high and the extra fee being taken by private medical colleges are the demotivating factors for these students. After this pandemic, government should too realize the fact that the country with strong health system is the most powerful nation the world.
Thereby, government too should allocate much higher budget in medical sector, medical research and for production of medical manpower with various scholarship scheme. As health of the citizen is a crucial factor for nations development, government should also timely monitor and show its concern for making medical education stronger and accessible to everyone in Nepal which in turn will uplift the health condition of Nepal.
-(MBBS Student and Medical Aspirant’s Library team)