Growing trend of Nepali doctors migrating abroad for better opportunities

Kathmandu: Concerning statistics have revealed that a large number of Nepali doctors are increasingly choosing foreign countries as their employment destination in search of better services and facilities.

The Nepal Medical Council issues around 2,000 medical registration certificates (licenses) each year. It has been found that a similar number of doctors obtain a ‘good character certificate’ from the council to go abroad.

In 2025, a total of 2,122 individuals received medical registration certificates, while 2,390 doctors obtained good character certificates to go abroad. This indicates that 268 more doctors secured certificates for foreign employment than those who received licenses in the same year.

Pradeep Rijal, head of the council’s character certificate verification section, told RSS that since 2020, 13,140 doctors have obtained licenses, while 11,068 have received good character certificates for going abroad.

Acting Registrar of the Council, Dr. Dipendra Pandey, stated that doctors have been migrating abroad for the past 10 years in search of better service facilities, including attractive salaries and working conditions.

According to him, the most preferred destinations for Nepali doctors are the United States, the United Kingdom, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, India, Canada, and Germany. He added that there are limited opportunities at the medical officer level in Nepal, prompting doctors to pursue master’s degrees and obtain good character certificates to work in hospitals abroad.

Council statistics show that since 2020, 2,995 doctors have gone to the United States, 2,637 to the United Kingdom, 2,241 to the Maldives, 848 to Australia, 720 to the United Arab Emirates, 148 to Canada, and 92 to Germany. Additionally, 918 doctors have migrated to neighboring India. Overall, Nepali doctors have moved to 23 different countries.

In 2020, 869 doctors obtained good character certificates to go abroad. The number increased to 1,327 in 2021, 1,954 in 2022, 2,318 in 2023, and 2,210 in 2024.

“Doctors obtain good character certificates to work and study abroad,” said Acting Registrar Dr. Pandey, “but most doctors from Nepal obtain these certificates primarily for employment rather than for further studies.”

Similarly, in 2020, 2,131 doctors obtained registration certificates, followed by 1,716 in 2021, 2,085 in 2022, and 2,394 in 2023.

Doctors are leaving Nepal largely due to the lack of adequate service facilities within the country. So far, the council has issued licenses to a total of 39,486 doctors.