Chitwan, June 4

Lately, District Public Health office, Chitwan has tightened its noose on health facilities in collaboration with the DAO and the police.

The health office stepped up monitoring and closed down as many as six of the 31 health facilities that were inspected last Thursday for operating without registration, not renewing their licences, or not meeting the minimum standards.

Officer at District Public Health office Ishwori Pokhrel said they had discovered during inspections that doctors from all hospitals except National Eye Hospital and Chitwan Pathology were running private clinics and labs by taking permission to run a pharmacy. Pokhrel said that his office had written to the doctors asking them not to run the clinics and labs.

Proprietor of Asha Hospital Dr Sharada Kunwar was detained for failing to renew the license of the hospital, and freed on Thursday evening after she promised renew the registration at the earliest.

Narayan Singh Kunwar, chairman of the Private Hospital Coordination Committee, Chitwan condemned the district health office and DAO for creating terror by arresting doctors arbitrarily and going beyond their jurisdiction. He said all hospitals would now begin the process of license renewal.

Similarly, Dr Krishna Prasad Paudel, chairman of Doctors’ Association, Chitwan protested manhandling of the doctors after their arrest.

Chitwan CDO Binod Prakash Singh said the DAO was determined to step up monitoring of not only health facilities but other business too. Earlier, as many as 20 middlemen, including five staffers of Bharatpur Cancer Hospital, were arrested by the police in coordination of the DAO.