Dipesh Babu Khadka
Dinesh Babu Khadka is director at Few City Hospital Pvt. Ltd. and Phewa City Institute of Medical Sciences— Pokhara. Phewa City Institute runs nursing program, affiliated to CTEVT. The institute has its own hospital— Phewa City Hospital which has a hundred beds.
Mr. Khadka is also vice president of central committee of Forum for Health Science and Technical Schools. He shares with College Readers the prospects of nursing education in Nepal and his initiation to spread its opportunities amid nursing graduates. Excerpts:
Could you share with us your journey to medical education?
About 15/16 years back, we had our clinic and I used to work in the laboratory. Subsequently, we made a team and established a hospital. After establishing the hospital, our team established a college. So, my journey to medical sector is interestingly long.
You are a medical person by profession. What differences have you found between the medical education in the past and present?
In the context of Pokhara, there were no medical colleges in the past, but at present, the number of medical colleges is increasing significantly. Students have got a plethora of choices to choose the best medical college. The number of students is found ever increasing in the recent days. Surprisingly, even there are a significant number of students pursuing pharmacy and lab technician courses in Pokhara. In fact, there is no scarcity of students for any health courses in Pokhara.
It is rumored that students have to pay a huge amount of fee for nursing course, but it’s really difficult for them to get a job upon their graduation or they have to work under a low salary. So, most nurses are leaving the country in pursuit of better job opportunities in foreign lands. In your perspectives, what efforts should be made to halt such a crowd of nurses going abroad?
The government should implement the policy to employ nurses in schools and colleges by creating necessary quotas. If the government makes the compulsory provision to appoint nurses in schools and colleges as medical persons, there will be shortage of nurses in Nepal. I infer that there will be scarcity of nurses in higher number for next 9/10 years if this policy is strictly implemented. In our context, we provide job opportunities to our nurses with a reasonable salary. None of our products are found unemployed till date.
What problems do you see in nursing education as vice chairperson of Forum for Technical Science and what are the effective gateways to solution?
In my opinion, there should be a proper provision of hostel and compulsory provision of hostel should be made for the nursing students. Similarly, there is a problem for PCL nursing due to lack of BN colleges. There should be an appropriate environment for upper classes after PCL. Similarly, for nursing colleges there should be the compulsory provision for establishing a hospital for practical classes and nursing students should get a convenient environment at hospitals for their practice.
It is heard that there is a variation in fee structure in different colleges for the same nursing course. What steps has the forum taken for bringing uniformity in fee structure?
Our fee structure is determined in terms of the government’s salary policy. Similarly, we provide scholarship for 10% of the total student enrollments according to the provision of CTEVT. Besides, we pay income taxes to the government genuinely. The forum is highly vigilant about maintenance of uniformity of fee structure across the nation.
How can you claim that there is qualitative education in Fewa City Institute of Medical Science?
Fewa City Institute of Medical Science is a well-established and well-recognized medical college which is administered by the experts of particular fields. The college has its own building and appealing physical infrastructures that satisfy our students for comfortable classes. Similarly, it has established its own hospital. The nursing students can complete their practical course in the hospital without any hindrance. Our faculty members are well-qualified, experienced and dedicated in their respective subjects.
In which condition can we see Fewa City Institute of Medical Science within the next five years?
It depends on the policy of the government. We are ready to upgrade its physical and academic standard. Similarly, we are planning to upgrade its program, too. Within the next five years, we will have constructed a separate academic building for our nursing students.
What suggestions would you like to give to students and parents who are in search of nursing education in Pokhara?
We are treating all the students as our own children and providing qualitative education with true spirit of sincerity. Similarly, proper guidance and guardianship is given to students. Our mission is to produce well-qualified and globally saleable technical human resources. So, I suggest the students and the parents they make a visit to our college and get assurance of world-class education we deliver.
