The international migration of health workers has sparked multiple debates, particularly around the ethics of the recruitment process. It is an especially contentious topic, considering the chronic global shortage and inequitable distribution of health workers that brought about the alarming rates at which health workers are migrating from countries of the global South to countries of the global North.

Although the volume of health workers leaving Nepal has been on a steady rise and the implications seem significant, there has been no study to identify the drivers of such migration. Neither are there any policies in Nepal to govern and manage the migration of health workers. This study aimed to fill the gaps.

The report draws on a survey comprising of final-year undergraduate medical and nursing students to analyse main drivers pushing Nepali health workers to seek employment opportunities abroad. In addition, the report explores legal mechanisms and policy frameworks specifically established to govern the migration of health workers from Nepal, other than the laws that govern foreign employment in general.