RAUTAHAT, MARCH 15
Gaur Hospital has failed to deliver service to patients due to lack of doctors.
The hospital has been upgraded to 50 beds, but, patients have been hit hard for want of doctors. Patients are forced to visit other districts for lack of treatment at the District Hospital, Gaur, Rautahat.
The hospital has become a referral hospital.
When fever and common cold patients visit the hospital, they are referred to other health facilities.
A 42-year-old woman visited Gaur Hospital for common cold. The woman underwent normal check-up, and was prescribed some medicines. The next time, the same woman visited the hospital, she was referred to Birgunj. "It is better to refer patients to another hospital than to take the trouble of treating them," said a doctor on condition of anonymity.
Local Ramkali Devi expressed surprise when she was referred to another hospital following a normal check-up. Devi vented ire on the government for not managing doctors at the hospital. "It is embarrassing for the district hospital to refer patients of common cold and fever to another hospital," Devi said.
A Cabinet meeting had approved a quota of 51 health workers, including one medical superintendent, eight specialist doctors, four medical officers, and four staff nurses for the hospital four years ago. Unfortunately, the hospital has only one medical superintendent and 27 other staffers now. The hospital does not have even a single specialist doctor. The hospital falls under the Province 2 government.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 16, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
