Institute of Medicine, Nepal

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The Institute of Medicine (IOM), Nepal, located in the capital city of Kathmandu, is the premier medical institution of Nepal.

The Institute of Medicine has been entrusted with :

Developing Undergraduate and Postgraduate Level of Human Resources for Health;
Undertaking Scientific Research in the field of Health Sciences;
Providing Curative, Rehabilitative, Promotional and Preventive Health Care Services;
Activating Continuing Education for Health Professionals;
Providing Training to Certificate-level Health Personnel.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), established in 1972 at Tribhuvan University, was entrusted with the responsibility of training health care workers at all levels for the health care manpower needs of Nepal. Within the first decade of its establishment, the IOM developed a total of 12 campuses scattered over the country -- 3 campuses in Kathmandu and 9 campuses outside the Kathmandu Valley.

Initially, the emphasis of IOM was on the training of middle-level health workers. Programmes serving this purpose include ANM, CMA, Proficiency Certificate Course in General Medicine, Pharmacy, Radiology, Physiotherapy, Nursing, Health Laboratory and Traditional Medicine.

With the passage of time, the institutional goals of IOM have continued to change. The mission of the IOM eventually expanded into training tertiary level health professionals. By 1977 it had at the graduate level a 2-year Bachelor of Nursing Programmes in Community Nursing, Paediatric Nursing and Adult Nursing.

In 1978, a community-oriented integrated MBBS programme was started with intake of 22 students. Subsequently the class size was increased to 40, and plans are underway to increase the number.

Tribhuvan University Hospital, a 300-bed teaching hospital, was completed in 1984 with support from JICA, and another 100 beds were added in 1993. At 426 beds, Tribhuvan University Hospital is currently the largest hospital in country, providing new tertiary level health service to the Nepalese people. This hospital is the site of teaching and research activities of IOM.

At post-graduate level, a three-year Postgraduate Generalist (Family Physician) Training and one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Anaesthesiology were started in 1982 and 1984, respectively, with support from the University of Calgary, Canada. Today the IOM has a total of 29 different programmes, from proficiency certificate level to the highest postgraduate degree in medicine, public health, paramedical, nursing and traditional Ayurved medicine through Tribhuvan University Hospital and 9 campuses scattered all over the country.

To maintain the quality of its academic programmes, the IOM has established linkage programmes with various well-recognised institutions and universities all over the world.