'Source force' and the Nepal medical profession

Saul J. Weiner

Social Science & Medicine, 1989, vol. 29, issue 5, 669-675

Abstract: The following is an account of how indigenous social structure in Nepal shapes the organization and functioning of the country's allopathic medical profession. There is a division between doctors who are well placed socially and politically, who would like to maintain the traditional kinship based patron-client system of promotions and placements, and doctors from less advantaged backgrounds who want reforms and state regulations that would organize the profession around merit and expertise. The struggle reflects a tension over the legitimacy of what Nepalis call 'source force' defined, here as the use of patrimonialism within a bureaucratic structure. The controversial new medical school currently represents the interests of doctors without source force, although the increasing involvement of elite families may change this status. A case study of one doctor (whose name and location has been changed) posted in a remote area, one of many conducted by the author in 1987, is given.

Keywords: Nepal; medical; profession; patron-clien; relations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989
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