Nepal has long grappled with a deplorable healthcare system, and the government’s misplaced priorities are part of the problem. For instance, the budget for the sector for fiscal 2023-24 was pared down to Rs83.99 billion, from nearly Rs104 billion allocated the previous year. This has hindered maternal health, mental health, nutrition and child immunisation. The fight against communicable, non-communicable and vector-borne diseases is also proving tough. Another big problem is rampant commercialisation of the health sector. Quality medical services, when they are at all available, cost an arm and a leg. Where then is the hope?

Enter Dr Bhagwan Koirala, a brilliant senior cardiothoracic surgeon who has been offering his services free of cost at the state-run Bir Hospital. A veteran medical practitioner, Dr Koirala’s commitment to public health and social work even after retiring as the head of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Department at the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, is commendable. Doctors serving in the Bir Hospital’s cardiac department say they feel blessed to get a chance to work under him. (This is, of course, besides Dr Koirala’s tireless effort to establish affordable children’s hospitals in all seven provinces.)

Of the same ilk is Dr Govinda KC, who has not just championed affordable healthcare for all Nepalis, but himself traversed the length and breadth of the country treating the sick and infirm. His humanitarian works transcend the border, as he has offered his free services in post-disaster situations in places as diverse as Pakistan, Myanmar and Haiti. As notable is the work of ophthalmologist Dr Sanduk Ruit who is known, now the world over, for his low-cost small-incision cataract surgery (replacing cloudy eye lenses with artificial ones).

These doctors, motivated by the spirit of service, give poor Nepalis hope that the whole healthcare system is not rigged against them. At a time when thousands of doctors are leaving the country every year in search of better opportunities, when many medical practitioners cannot spare more than a minute for their patients (who would often have waited for hours), and service delivery even at our best private hospitals is sub-par, these people come as a breath of fresh air.

Their work challenges the way medicine has been commercialised and tweaked to serve the rich and mighty. Just like those working under Dr Koirala at Bir Hospital, they inspire other doctors, reminding them of why they really do what they do. And what a hopeful message they give to the rest of us. These highly qualified doctors could easily have left Nepal and earned multiple times what they currently make but they choose to stay in and serve their country. In doing so, they give an all-important message: Yes, Nepal is poor and its economy wobbly, but if your intent is to serve the people and not just make a potful of money, there is much you can do right here. There will continue to be long lines of youths seeking foreign pastures for years and decades to come. But the work of these inspirational doctors will make at least a few of them want to come back and do something of their own in their homeland.