Keeping Nepal's doctors in Nepal

Nepal produces new classes of doctors and nurses each year, with families and universities celebrating graduates ready to serve communities. But many leave quickly for careers abroad in countries such as Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Gulf states, driven in part by reliance on comparatively low earnings from medical practice. The piece argues that the core problem is not simply training capacity, but underutilisation and underpayment of health professionals, who often take multiple jobs to support their families. It frames the issue as a healthcare system challenge, since departures take knowledge and experience with them. It proposes digital healthcare as an alternative, allowing clinicians to offer paid consultations remotely through a secure national network during off-duty hours, using authorised patient histories.