The construction of a basic hospital in several local units of Salyan, a hill district of Karnali Province, has been left incomplete. The delay of the federal project has deprived people in the district’s rural areas of timely quality health services.

The federal government in the annual budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 had announced the construction of a basic hospital with 10 to 15 beds in each local unit across the nation. Eight of 10 local bodies in Salyan had commenced hospital construction from the same fiscal year but none of them has completed the work as of now.

The federal government had allocated a total of Rs180 million to eight local units of Salyan in the fiscal year 2019-20 to construct hospitals. Though it was planned as a multi-year project, the government significantly slashed the budget in the following fiscal years, leaving it in limbo.

The hospital construction has been halted in Darma, Kalimati and Siddhakumakh rural municipalities and Bangad Kupende Municipality for the past few months. The construction is moving at a snail’s pace in Kumakha, Kapurkot and Chhatreshwari rural municipalities while Bagchaur Municipality has just initiated the process.

The project aims to provide good health facilities with doctor’s service in the rural areas. However, the ambitious plan has been ineffective due to construction delays triggered by budget crunch.

“We had a dream of receiving good health service from the doctor near our village after the government started hospital construction some four years ago,” said Sukabir Khatri, 50, of Kalimati-2. “Now the construction of the hospital has been halted for months. We don’t know when the project will be completed.” Khatri complained that the villagers had no alternative to go to Birendranagar of Surkhet district or Tulsipur of Dang district for the treatment of even minor injuries and illness due to the lack of hospital in the local body.

Kalimati Rural Municipality borders Surkhet and Dang. It is easier for the local people to visit Surkhet and Dang than Khalanga, the district headquarters of Salyan.

“We have to go to Surkhet and Dang or visit the private clinics for treatment,” Sukabir said. “So we have to spend a huge amount of money. Mainly the poor people are hugely affected due to the lack of hospitals in the area.”

The hospital construction has been halted over the past one year in Kalimati, with authorities citing a shortage of budget. According to the rural municipality office, around 20 percent construction work has been completed so far.

“The construction company delayed the construction despite our repeated instructions,” said Dan Bahadur Khatri, chairman of Kalimati Rural Municipality. “The rural municipality had no alternative to scrap the project agreement for the noncompliance of the contractor. The work has been stopped as the contractor filed a case against us in the district court.”

As per the information provided by the local units, around 65 percent work of hospital construction has been completed in Kapurkot, 40 percent in Kumakh, 30 percent in Darma and Tribeni, 25 percent in Bangad Kupinde, 20 percent in Chhatreshwari and just five percent in Siddhakumakh so far.

Resham Oli, chief administrative officer of Darma Rural Municipality, said that construction of the basic hospital had been halted in the local unit over the past six months. “The contractor should be provided around Rs10 million for the work completed in the last fiscal year. The contractor stopped work stating that they could not initiate work unless the payment is made,” said Oli. “We are unable to force the contractor for work due to lack of budget.”

Kapurkot Rural Municipality, however, hopes to complete the construction of the hospital building by the end of the current fiscal year of 2023-24.

“The construction work, which was stopped last year, is going on smoothly now,” said Durga Bahadur Pun, chairman of Kapurkot Rural Municipality. “We will run the hospital from the next fiscal year if the government manages the posts of required human resources.”