Chitwan, November 26

Capacity enhancement project at BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur, Chitwan, has been left in limbo as the construction of new building could not be completed on time.

Though Prera Ashish JV Construction Company had contracted to complete the building within 33 months three years ago, more than 65 per cent work remains.

Executive Director Dr Chin Bahadur Pun of the health facility said contractors were supposed to complete the building three months ago. “But they have demanded 18 more months for completion of the task citing various causes,” said Dr Pun.

The contractor company also has sent a letter in the name of the board of directors demanding raise in budgetary terms as per the present cost hike.

However, the hospital staff claimed that board members had accused some other board members of financial irregularities.

Pun said that the board of directors would take a final decision on this. Prem Kumar Malla, Managing Director of Prera Construction Service, claimed that they could not complete the task due to lack of budget. “The construction work could not be completed as per the contract date as we had to clear trees on the construction site and manage sanitation along with the plumbing.”

The contractors have said the deadly earthquake, crunch in the supply of sand, boulders, pebbles and the agitation in the plains, among others had adversely affected the project.

However, Pun claimed that they had not deterred payment to the contractors. Of the 389 million rupees, Rs 380 million had already been paid to the contractor, he added.

Due to lack of timely construction, the hospital extension plan has been badly affected. The hospital authority was planning to add 200 new beds in the hospital, which has 194 beds at present. Of them, 94 beds have been managed through internal source of the health facility.

They were planning to launch ICU, bone marrow transplant unit and operation theatre, among other services in the new building. “We would be in a position to provide services to around double the number of patients at 15 per cent increment in expenses,” said Pun.

According to Deputy Director of the hospital Dr Dej Kumar Gautam, services were provided to as many as 111,000 patients in 2014. Of them, more than 6,000 were new cancer patients.