Rautahat, November 15:

At the initiative of the Rautahat chief district officer (CDO), the locks on the gates of Gaur Hospital and the District Public Health Office (DPHO) were removed today. Locals yesterday had locked both places, saying there was no doctor in Gaur Hospital. The hospital was left doctor-less when the sole medico Dr Ram Shankar Thakur went on leave some days ago. The hospital has a quota of three doctors.

All services in the hospital except in the emergency department came to a halt yesterday, said CDO Madhav Prasad Ojha, adding: “Locals agreed to unlock the hospital and the DPHO on the condition that doctors will be made available according to quota shortly.”

“Patients were compelled to return without treatment after Dr Thakur went on leave 10 days ago,” said a local Sunita Shrestha, adding: “He left the office, saying he had to attend a two-day seminar in Pokhara.”

CDO Ojha said: “Patients here are facing difficulties. We will send a letter to the concerned authority to initiate the process of appointing doctors according to quotas.”