PCL Medical Courses

There are many students who wish to take up higher studies but are unable to do so due to lack of funds. In Gorkha District, the project areas of our many projects, many bright young minds are toiling in the fields instead of attending schools or colleges just because their families lack the resources to send them to good schools and colleges in the city. If given a chance, these students can make a positive difference in their lives as well as their communities. The scholarship will be granted to those deserving female students wishing to take up a career in the medical sector. They should have passed School Leaving Certificate (SLC) / Secondary Education Examination (SEE) with excellence.

Goals: 

The scholarship program will achieve the following goals:

• Prevention of early marriages of the sponsored girls as well as boys.
• Adding the number of health professionals in rural Gorkha villages (a very large number of health professionals in Nepal are concentrated in cities and as a result the rural areas suffer).
• The skills and knowledge gained in the course will further motivate them to apply for higher level education (Bachelor and Master in their field).
• Helping the sponsored girls & boys and their families to uplift their financial status and therefore their living conditions.
• Helping to transform the girls and boys into working independent professionals.
• Higher-educated and working women and men, enabled through this program, will go onto run their family properly.
• It will have an overall effect of better health situation of the rural Gorkha villages.
• Getting higher education in a prestigious medical field will boost up the confidence of both girls and boys.

Selection Criteria:

To get accepted in our scholarship program, the students must match our selection criteria.

• The eligible candidates must have achieved at least C grade in Compulsory Mathematics, Science and English, and overall GPA of 2.0 in their SLC/SEE (School Leaving Certificate) / Secondary Education Examination exam (The minimum requirement is GPA 2.0 but the higher GPA they secure in their SEE exam, the higher chance they have to get through the entrance exam). This is also the admission criteria followed by the colleges and institutes. This is because the PCL medical courses are rather difficult and complicated for those students who don’t secure the required grades and above in their SLC/SEE exam. We want to ensure that once the candidates are enrolled in their chosen medical course, they don’t drop out because it is beyond their intellectual capacity.
• The candidates will have to submit their SLC/SEE and higher secondary school transcripts.
• Family background will be taken into account as our main priority is the candidates belonging to poor and disadvantaged backgrounds from rural areas.

Accommodation:

For accommodation, the selected candidates have three options. They can choose any that is suitable to them. The options are:

1. Stay at hostel: Many colleges have their own hostels for their students. The selected candidates can choose to stay in the college hostel. If the college doesn’t have its own hostel, the candidates can stay in the hostel that is nearest to the college.
2. Rent your own room: The candidates can live on their own by renting a room or two in a locality nearby their college. A lot of young students who move to big cities usually rent their own room.
3. Live with relatives: If the candidates have their relatives in their chosen city such as Kathmandu, Bharatpur or any other city, they can choose to stay with their relatives. This can be a great option for candidates who don’t want to live alone.

Payback to the Community:

Despite the presence of many such institutions to study medicine and health related subjects in South Asia, the health condition of Nepal is not improving because most medicine and health professionals like doctors, nurses, lab technicians, midwives, pharmacists, etc choose to work either in an urban area or fly abroad. Due to the lack of experts, many people suffer in villages and many lose their lives. People lose their life due to minor diseases like dysentery, diarrhea, fever, typhoid, let alone forget about surgeries and therapies. Because of this, the condition of health in rural area remains same. Keeping such things in mind we have come up with a plan that the sponsored students for the PCL medical courses will have to sign a legal contract (MoU – Memorandum of Understanding) with Sambhav Nepal before enrolling in the college. The contract will abide them to serve in a rural health post of their village or any village within their rural municipality for at least six months within two years after the completion of their course. The selected candidates are free to choose the time. As such, if they are offered a job in hospitals, clinics or to study further, they can plan as per their best opportunities. We do not want to hinder any working chances they get and want to pursue.

LATEST UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2024

The sixth batch of the PCL Medical Course commenced in November 2024, comprising six students, all permanent residents of Gorkha. Among them, five are female, and one is male. Currently, they are actively engaged in their regular classes, dedicated to their respective fields of study.

Their academic pursuits and institutions are as follows:

• One student is enrolled in the PCL Nursing program at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Medical Sciences, Kathmandu.
• Two students are pursuing PCL Health Assistant studies at Old Capital College, Gorkha.
• One student is undertaking PCL Lab Technician course at Star Academy, Sanepa, Lalitpur.
• Another is studying PCL Pharmacy at Nepali Army College of Health Sciences, Sanobharyang, Kathmandu.
• One student, diverging from the medical field, is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture at Cosmos College of Management and Technology, Satdobato, Lalitpur.

Each student is committed to their chosen academic path, contributing to the diversity of this cohort’s educational journey. Their dedication and perseverance reflect their passion for making a meaningful impact in their respective fields.

PROGRESS UPDATE –  NOVEMBER 2023

The fifth batch of the PCL Medical Course commenced in November 2023. This batch consists of three students, all of whom are girls and permanent residents of Gorkha. Currently, these students are actively attending their regular classes. Two of them have enrolled in the PCL Health Assistant program, while the third has opted for the PCL Science course.

Regarding their educational institutions:

• One student is pursuing her PCL in Health Assistant at the Old Capital Foundation in Gorkha.
• Another is studying the same PCL Health Assistant course at the Human Resource Development and Research Institute in Kathmandu.
• The third student is enrolled in the PCL Science course at Viswa Niketan Secondary School, located in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu.

Each of these students is diligently following her chosen academic path, contributing to the diversity of educational pursuits within this small, dedicated cohort.

PROGRESS UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2022

After certain minimization or decrement in the cases of the Covid-19 pandemic, the classes have now resumed following some of the required precautions. The students who are studying various medical courses under this project are now attending physical classes in their respective institutions.

In this successful 4^th phase of the Medical Course Project, we have selected 5 students for different courses according to the interest of the students.

Out of the 5 selected students;

• 2 are studying PCL Nursing at Hams Nursing College, Kathmandu.
• 1 is studying Health Assistant course at Gorkha Technical Training Centre, Gorkha.
• 1 is studying Health Assistant course at B.P. Memorial Health Institute and Research Centre, Kathmandu.
• 1 is studying Health Assistant course at Holy Vision Technical Campus, Baneshwor-Kathmandu.

PROGRESS UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2021 

Nepal is going under another lockdown due to the increase in cases caused by the new variants of Covid-19. As a result, the learning for all levels, faculties and steams have moved online. The students who are studying various medical courses under this project are also attending classes via the Internet. They are studying online and proceeding in their respective courses via the laptops supplied by us to them for their ease.

In this 3^rd phase of the Medical Course Project, due to the effect of Covid-19 we were able to select only 3 students. The physical classes were closed for long period of time but was conducted via online.

Out of the selected students;

• 1 is currently studying PCL Health Assistant at Shankarapur Academy, Jorpati-Kathmandu
• 1 is studying PCL Radiography at Kathmandu School of Medical Technology, Ratopul-Kathmandu
• 1 is studying BscMIT at Chitwan Medical College, Chitwan.

PROGRESS UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2020

In the second year of the PCL Medical Courses program, we have also selected 5 girls based on our selection criteria. All of them come from poor families in Gorkha district. They all gave the entrance exam conducted by Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) and got accepted to their chosen courses and colleges. This year the entrance exam and the studies are late because of the disturbance caused by lockdown and Covid-19.

Out of 5 selected students:

• 1 is studying PCL in Pharmacy at School of Medical Sciences, Kathmandu
• 1 is studying PCL in Pharmacy at Shahid Smarak Jana Swasthya College, Kathmandu
• 1 is studying PCL in Nursing at College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur
• 2 are studying PCL in Medical Lab Technology at College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur

Because of Covid-19, their colleges haven’t started in-person classes right now. But the studies are conducted via virtual classes. We have provided one each laptop for all 5 of them (5 laptops in total) so that they can join the classes and continue their courses from the safety and comfort of their own home.

PROGRESS UPDATE – 2019

In 2019, the first year of the PCL Medical Courses program, we selected 5 girls from poor background, all of whom are from Gorkha district. They gave their entrance exam conducted by Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) and got accepted into their chosen course and college.

Out of 5 selected students:

• 1 is studying PCL in Nursing at National Academy of Medical Sciences (Bir Hospital), Kathmandu
• 1 is studying PCL in Nursing at Chitwan Academy for Technical Education, Bharatpur
• 3 are studying PLC in Medical Science (Physiotherapy) at Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences, Kathmandu

Because of Covid-19, they don’t have in-person classes right now. Their colleges are conducting virtual classes. We have provided one each laptop for all 5 of them (5 laptops in total) so that they can join the classes and continue their studies from the safety and comport of their own home.

Note: Due to privacy reasons, we prefer not to post the details and photos of the individual students in our website. All are from poor rural families and some are the victims of the Nepalese Civil War (1996-2006). The donors have the necessary details of the students.

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