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Kathmandu, December 20

Hundreds of illegal private clinics, laboratories, diagnostic centers and hospitals in Kathmandu Valley have applied for registration after the Ministry of the Health warned that all health facilities operating without registration would be shut down.

“Hundreds of illegally running health facilities have applied for registration,” said Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, chief of District Public Health Office, Kathmandu. He informed that 504 private clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories and diagnostic centers had applied for registration following the health ministry’s warning. He said the DPHO had stopped issuing licence to new clinics, as per the health ministry’s directive.

According to Shrestha, the DPHO will issue licences only after the registration of illegal health facilities was completed. According to DPHO, over 1,500 private clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories and diagnostic centers have been operating in Kathmandu.

“We will shut down all unregistered health facilities after January 15,” said Shrestha. He said the DPHO would register health facilities only after inspection.

Likewise, dozens of unregistered private clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories and diagnostic centers operating in Bhaktapur have also applied for registration.

According to Keshav Pandit, chief of DPHO, Bhaktapur, dozens of unregistered health facilities have applied for registration. “The problem in Bhaktapur is not so severe, but a lot of private health facilities have applied for registration after the health ministry’s warning,” said Pandit.

District Public Health Office, Lalitpur said the office was flooded with applications seeking registration of health facilities and renewal of licences.

The ministry said over 60 per cent clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories and diagnostic centers operating in Kathmandu Valley were operating without registration. Officials said there were some clinics and laboratories that had been registered but have not renewed their licence for years. Such clinics and laboratories neither pay taxes to the government nor inform the government about services they provide to patients. Doctors say reports of a majority of private clinics as well as laboratories are unreliable.