CHITWAN, August 12

Most of the hospitals in Chitwan have been operating without renewing their licence as they failed to meet the criteria sought for licence renewal.

According to district public health officer Ishwori Pokharel, not a single hospital in the district has renewed its licence.

“There are six hospitals with up to 25 beds and they are supposed to be monitored by the office, however, not a single health facility has renewed its license,” Pokharel said, adding that the concerned hospitals were directed to renew their licences at the earliest.

He said that hospitals failing to meet the state-fixed criteria wouldn’t be eligible for renewal of licence.

“The hospitals have failed to get their licences renewed since they lack basic amenities like parking, drinking water, electricity and are yet to manage earthquake-resistant buildings, self-run medical outlets, sufficient manpower, machines, and the likes, as sought by the rule,” informed regional health director Dr Ramesh Bikram Singh. He added, “While most of the health facilities have not renewed their licences for the past one year, others are have not done the same for four or five years.”

Private Hospital Coordination Committee Chitwan Chairperson Narayansingh Kunwar attributed the failure to the delay in implementation of an earlier agreement.

“As per the government directive, the hospitals were required to meet the criteria in six years. However, as the directive has not been implemented yet, the hospitals have ignored the need to renew their licences for continuing operation,” Kunwar argued.

As per the directive, district public health office shall issue permission, renew the licence, and monitor the health facilities with a maximum of 25 beds, whereas the regional health directorate, health department, and health ministry shall do the same for health facilities with 25 to 50, 51 to 200 and 200 plus beds respectively.

The district has 16 heath facilities, including hospitals and medical colleges, with more than 25 beds and six hospitals with up to 25 beds.