B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) was founded on January 18, 1993, and later upgraded to an autonomous Health Sciences University on October 28, 1998. Its mission is to develop a socially responsible and competent health workforce, provide healthcare services, and engage in innovative health research. The institute is located in Eastern Nepal and provides health services to Primary Health Care Centers, District Hospitals, and Zonal Hospitals in different regions through its teaching district concept. The university is named after Bisheshwar Prasad Koirala, a visionary leader of Nepal who believed in national integration.

BPKIHS is an example of successful Nepal-India cooperation. The Health Ministers of both countries signed an agreement on March 10, 1994, to establish BPKIHS. The university aims to become a self-governing and self-reliant international Health Sciences University, attracting students and teachers from all over the world to its innovative educational programs. The Nepali Parliament has also designated BPKIHS as a center of national importance to produce skilled health professionals to meet the country's needs and to function as a center of excellence in the field of tropical and infectious diseases. For example, BPKIHS collaborates with international bodies on the ongoing Kala-azar Project.

BPKIHS offers postgraduate, undergraduate, and university certificate programs, including a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program starting this year. It has four colleges: Medical, Dental, Nursing, and Public Health, and a 700-bedded Central Teaching Hospital. The medical college has well-established major clinical and basic science departments.

Since 1999, BPKIHS has offered postgraduate programs (MD, MS, and MSc). All degrees awarded by BPKIHS are recognized by Nepal Medical Council and respective councils of Nepal. Several MD/MS degrees (anesthesiology, clinical pharmacology & therapeutics, dermatovenerology, ENT, internal medicine, orthopedics, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiodiagnosis, and surgery) are also recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI). BPKIHS also offers a two-year MPH program, an MSc Nursing Program, and a BDS program recognized by the Nepal Medical Council.

BPKIHS follows an integrated and holistic model in academics and services, with a commitment to social responsibility and accountability. It provides training to students through a community-based approach, where students visit and/or are posted to health institutions under faculty/specialist supervision to learn in a community setup while providing local health institutions with qualified health professionals. The institute pays special attention to uplifting rural women from marginalized communities and provides provisions for admission to underprivileged groups/sections of society in different academic programs.