A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed Thursday between the Government of India  and His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for jointly developing the B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan as a Centre of Excellence in the field of medical education and research, an announcement said.

Mr. Ashok Kumar, Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of India signed on behalf of the GOI, while Dr. Bimal Prasad Koirala, Finance Secretary signed the MOU on behalf of HMGN. B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences was set up under an India-Nepal Agreement signed between the two Governments in March, 1994.

The Agreement envisages cooperation between the two countries in the setting up of a  50-seat Undergraduate Medical College, which would include the establishment of a 350-bed Hospital to serve as the Teaching Hospital. Grant assistance of 800 million Indian Rupees was made available by GOI for the project.

The agreement also provides that for a period of 10 years ending in the year 2004, India shall give technical assistance by deputing Indian medical experts to BPKIHS to work on such faculty posts for which Nepalese nationals are not available.

Provision was also made for Post Graduate training facilities for 57 Nepalese candidates and for training facilities for Para-Medical Courses in India.

The first batch of MBBS students was admitted in August 1994. The MOU also envisages the creation of a corpus fund of 40 million Indian Rupees, to be named the India-Nepal BPKIHS Fund, with equal

contribution by the two Governments.

The fund shall be invested suitably by the Institute Advisory Authority, and the interest earned shall be used for taking up various activities such as organising seminars, conferences or workshops,  collaborative research, exchange of eminent faculty for lecture series, short-term fellowships for Nepalese faculty, grants for BPKIHS faculty for attending conferences or seminars in India, funding at least two Post-Graduate seats for Nepalese candidates, and developing tele-medicine and information networking for the Institute.