Apropos of the news story “Hoteliers seek conducive tourism environment” (THT, December 19, Page 10), hoteliers have been begging for conducive environment from as many as one dozen governments in the last 10 years alone. And the conducive environment like we had in the 1970s and 1980s is something that they will never receive ever again. The new rough and tough trade environment is just like climate change. If the traders want to survive and flourish, they need to adapt to the new political milieu. They should keep in mind that one of the best flowers, Lotus, which is associated with Lord Buddha, who was born and raised in Nepal, flourishes in filthy and anarchic ponds. But everything is not lost yet. The good news is that politicians of all hues and colours from across the parties have taken to business, directly or through proxy, as naturally as piranhas take to the turbulent and dangerous waters of South America. So, the ancient traders can be hopeful that the revised conducive environment will descend on this land for the sake of new business if not for them. Nevertheless, they too can benefit from such an environment as and when it comes, probably after Sher Bahadur relinquishes his seat.

Meanwhile, rafting on commercial basis started in Nepal in 1976 and not in 1990 as mentioned in the oped “Adventure tourism” (THT, December19, Page 8). By 1990s rafting like all other tourism business had started to go on downward spiral, thanks to Maoist conflict. Rafting as we know may never be revived because of the destruction of pristine river environment. You don’t want to raft in the river shorn of its natural richness such as sand, stones, boulders and clear waters. As for ski potential, it’s a pity that the Japanese daredevil, who skied down the slopes of Everest, is dead. He could have elaborated on its potential in this country. But the people who organized one of the first heli-skies in Manang in 2003-4 and those who participated in the sports are still alive.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

“Fake news”

This is with reference to the editorial “Erring hospitals” (THT, December 15, Page 8).

A blanket condemnation of private hospitals is nothing short of a knee-jerk reaction to populist sentiments that have been fanned by social media. You have also fallen into the same trap of becoming another one of the purveyors of “Fake News” and spreading sensationalism. We wonder if you are at all aware of the extensive nature of inefficiency, corruption and indifference that serious institutions like ours have to deal with on a regular basis at multiple levels of authority. “Singing the tune” and “greasing the palms” is often necessary to get the work done even for scenarios where routine regulation ought to apply.

Quite frequently the ad hoc inspections that are conducted by various agencies of government are farcical, and they would be comical if it were not a life or death issue at medical institutions like ours.

B&B Hospital, Gwarko