KATHMANDU: Bir Hospital, nation's oldest and the busiest hospital is facing an acute problem of space as around 25 per cent of the total area of the hospital has been occupied by scraps.

Sudha Baidhya, a senior staff at the hospital said that they had formed a 14-member committee for managing the scraps nine months ago and held a series of meeting regarding the segregation of the scraps from the hospital, but to no avail.

The scraps are piled up on the balcony, the corners of every ward and stairs of the hospitals.

“The problems of scraps became acute after the hospital stopped auctioning them,” Baidya told The Himalayan Times, adding that the hospital was supposed to call a tender and call for auction in every two years but it has not done it since five years.

Baidya recalled that committees were formed the previous years but were unable to work effectively due to frequent change of leadership. “The perspectives also changed along with the change in leadership,” she added.

However, she said that efforts were on to appoint specialists to segregate the scraps and resolve the problem within a few months.

Arjun Gautam, section officer at the hospital, said that they were going to reuse some of the scraps and auction the rest. He further added that the scraps had ruined the beauty of the hospital while it increasingly made the hospital congested. Employees' unions of National Academy of Medical Sciences are also clamouring for the removal of scraps from the hospital.