Pokhara, January 20:

Private hospitals and clinics in Pokhara have decided to increase their fees by 50 per cent.

A meeting of Nepal Medical Association (NMA) on Thursday took a decidion to this effect.

Now onwards, each patient visiting a private hospital will have to pay 50 per cent more than what they used to and those visiting private clinics will have to pay Rs 300 instead of Rs 200.“The medical examination fee was increased as per the agreement of doctors because it had remained the same for the past five years,” NMA secretary Bimal Chalise said.

“A visit to a specialist doctor would cost Rs 300 and to a MBBS doctor would be Rs 200,” Chalise said.

The patients, however, were shocked to learn of the hike in medical fee with effect from today.

“I had to borrow money from others to pay the fee because I had no knowledge about the recent rise in fee,” Ganga Devi Parajuli, a patient who visited the Paropakar Medical Hall said.

Chairman of the Kaski chapter of Consumers’ Forum Kapil Koirala said that increment of medical fee is a burden at time when the earlier fees were already expensive.

“The fees are fair compared to the cost for completing medical graduation,” a doctor Krishna Koirala said.

There are some 75 private clinics and hospitals in Pokhara, vice-chairperson of Gandaki chapter of Nepal Drug Entrepreneurs’ Association Dandapani Sharma said.

The private clinics and hospitals had to increase their fees three years ago, but they did it now, medical superintendent at Western Regional Hospital Buddhi Bahadur Thapa said, adding: “Those who cannot afford the medical costs in private health institutions will come to government hospital for treatment.”