Dadeldhura hospital budget frozen

Dadeldhura, July 26

A huge amount of budget meant for the procurement of necessary equipment has been frozen at the Sub-regional Hospital of Dadeldhura, thanks to the inordinate delay in starting the bidding process.

The government had earlier allocated Rs 70 million for the hospital targetting hilly districts such as Dadeldhura, Baitadi, Darchula, Doti, Achham, Bajhang and Bajura for the purchase of necessary equipment including CT-Scan and Endoscopy. Following some internal issues, the hospital had belatedly initiated a tender process from April, but had to halt the process due to lack of time.

The then health minister Gagan Thapa, at the behest of his party president Sher Bahadur Deuba, had set aside the fund for the hospital.

Hospital Management Committee Chair Laxman Budhaeir lamented the budget freeze. “It was such an ordeal to secure the budget, but the hard-earned budget was frozen due to lack of cooperation from the staff,” he said. “We had sought the budget for the machines keeping in view the fact that patients would require the services, but we are now bound to refer them elsewhere,” he added.

Meanwhile, additional 60 million rupees meant for manpower development was also frozen. Hospital Medical Superintendent Shivaraj Joshi, however, put the frozen amount only at 40 million rupees.