Geographic origin of Nepali doctors

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Health Workforce Analysis

Background:

• Nepal has a long history of training doctors abroad, predating its in-country medical education programs.
• Understanding the geographical and developmental origins of Nepali doctors and their training locations is crucial for health workforce planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To correlate the developmental and ecological regions of Nepal with the countries where Nepali doctors received their medical training.
• To identify patterns in the geographical distribution of medical education for Nepali physicians.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective analysis of Nepali doctors' training origins.
• Data correlation based on Nepal's developmental regions (Central, Eastern, etc.) and ecological zones (Mountain, Hill, Terai).

Main Results:

• Approximately 38% of Nepali doctors trained in India, 22% in the former USSR, and 22% in Nepal.
• The majority of doctors (two-thirds) originate from the central developmental region, particularly the Kathmandu Valley.
• Ecologically, Mountain and Hill regions are underrepresented compared to the Kathmandu Valley and Terai.
• Doctors trained in the former USSR and within Nepal exhibited broader developmental and ecological origins.

Conclusions:

• Significant reliance on foreign medical education, especially from India and the former USSR, exists among Nepali doctors.
• In-country training, particularly from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), demonstrates a more diverse regional and ecological representation.
• Further investigation into the IOM's medical student selection process is warranted to understand its broad-based recruitment.