Kathmandu, August 13 :

Orthopaedic cases — people falling off trees or cliffs, getting crushed by boulders or hit by vehicles, happen all over the country. But the districts lack facilities and the sole hopital for such cases is in Kathmandu.

The government has been honking its horn on creating orthopaedic units in zonal and regional hospitals, but none there has it. All, due to lack of skilled surgeons.

There are around only 70 orthopaedic surgeons in the country, of which 70 per cent are based in Kathmandu, according to the health ministry. The Nepal Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), the only orthopaedic hospital, gets 80 per cent of cases from the districts. Only 20 per cent are from the Valley.

Durga Thapa, 36, of Waling in Syangjha was relieved after her nine-month ordeal following a fracture in the right tibia. She suffered a fracture after a fall while tending her kitchen garden. She did the rounds of a government hospital in Pokhara for months, to no avail. “I spent money like water, in vain.” Thapa underwent surgery at Kathmandu.

NOH was set up eight years ago with support from world community service projects of the United States, Rotary Club of Patan and Nepal Disabled Association.

The hospital treated 14,000 patients this year aside from 1,400 surgery cases. The hospital has also started knee and hip replacement from this year, charging half of what private hospitals do. Charity has been granted to almost 21 per cent of the patients, according to NOH.

Dr Anil Shrestha, director of NOH, said due to topological difficulties the number of cases is piling up. “If the government increases the fund for the hospital more patients, especially from rural areas could benefit,” he said. The government provides Rs 10 lakh grant to the hospital.

A patient, Januka Bhandari, 23, of Syangjha who sustained spinal cord injury after falling off a cliff, is recovering at NOH. She went in vain to hospitals in Palpa and Bhairawa over the last 20 days with the hope of getting better treatment.

Orthopaedic surgeon at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) Dr Arjun Lamicchane said that since 90 per cent of the orthopaedic patients are trauma cases, those who can go to private hospitals while it is the poor who suffer the most.

Sources said that the Health ministry is virtually chewing on nails trying to send specialized doctors to the districts for such orthopaedic cases.

“Doctors prefer to quit than go to zonal or regional hospitals,” said Dr Nirakar Man Shrestha, special secretary at Health Ministry.