title: 'Source force' and the Nepal medical profession.
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.
authors: S J
authors: SJ
authors: Weiner
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D009390:Nepal; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D011057:Politics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors