KATHMANDU, AUGUST 8

Kathmandu Metropolitan City today issued a 24-hour ultimatum to Norvic International Hospital at Thapathali to remove the structures that house water plant and CT scan and MRI scanning machines on the hospital premises.

Mayor Balendra Shah, along with over a dozen city police personnel, issued the notice to hospital authorities. KMC claims that the said structures are built on government land in breach of the agreement between the hospital administration and the government.

Dhanapati Sapkota, head of the city police, told THT that the notice was issued after the local government found out that structures were built violating the agreement with the government.

Norvic Hospital has been operating in an area spread over 8,200 sq feet that was leased 20 years ago.

The agreement was inked with the federal government's minister of land reforms and the hospital authorities claimed that they had already paid the lease amount in advance at an annual increment of 10 per cent.

As per the agreement, the hospital can use the land without constructing solid structures with concrete floor.

The local government claims that the hospital breached the agreement by constructing solid building with concrete floor.

Hospital authorities have refuted the claim, saying the local government's action against the hospital was prejudiced. A top level management official told THT that a 24-hour notice to demolish the said structures was extremely harsh. 'We should have been given a warning and time to furnish an explanation,' he added. He said hospital authorities would seek legal remedy and move the court, as the said structures house vital services of the hospital.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 9, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.