Shifting the paradigm: Nepal as a potential leader in the field of medical education.

The last two decades have seen a tremendous boom of medical colleges in Nepal. Before 1993, Institute of Medicine, Maharajgunj was the sole national institution for medical education for almost 15 years. In the year 1993, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan was established and this was soon followed by a rapid increase in the number of affiliated medical colleges of Kathmandu University and also Tribhuwan University later. Meanwhile, Kathmandu University also started its own medical college, Kathmandu University Medical School (KUMS) in 2001 and Patan Academy of Health Sciences was established in 2008.1