Chitwan, August 2

Following intervention by the local administration, reform is being implemented at BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur, Chitwan.

Earlier, the hospital was in a mess due to ill intention on the part of staffers, doctors and middlemen. However, the campaign that started with the control of middlemen at the hospital around two months ago has started to pay off. The moment a patient visited the hospital, middlemen would fight to tug him/her.

Doctors and staffers would stay away from duty during office hours and would press the patients to visit their clinic, pharmacy or private hospital in nexus with the middlemen. So much so that medical equipment would be deliberately made dysfunctional and patients would be referred to private clinics and hospitals. All these malpractices had plagued the hospital very badly.

Resident of Ratnanagar Municipality-18 Chandra Bahadur Sunar, who has been visiting the hospital for the treatment of his father for the past four months, said that health service had become easy and convenient of late at the hospital.

“At present as there are no middlemen, we are not suffering”, said Sunar. He said middlemen had forced him to take his father to a private clinic when his father was brought for admission. Bhuwan Aryal from Syangja also said that a significant change had taken place at the hospital in the past two months. He has been visiting the hospital for his mother’s treatment for the last sixmonths.

The local administration had arrested 20 middlemen and five hospital staffers two months ago and filed cases against them. Since then, the local administration has been keeping its surveillance at the hospital.

Chitwan CDO Binod Prakash Singh said that DAO was keeping its surveillance at the hospital. “Police personnel are keeping an eye on the hospital,” CDO Singh said.

The DAO is looking into flaws among medical doctors and staffers working at the hospital at present. CDO Singh warned of action against people spoiling the hospital environment. “Not only the cancer hospital, DAO has started inspecting other public offices as well,” CDO Singh added.

Executive Director Dr Chin Bahadur Pun at the hospital admitted that a lot of change had taken place at the hospital with the change of DAO. The daily income has shot up from Rs 3 lakh to 6.75 lakh at the hospital, said Pun. Pun added that doctors and staffers were now staying at the hospital during office hours.

These days, CT scan, lab and MRI, among other equipment, are fully functional at the hospital.