BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital was established in year 1992 in Bharatpur, Chitwan, to offer effective treatment for the patients suffering from cancer.
BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital was established in year 1992 in Bharatpur, Chitwan, to offer effective treatment for the patients suffering from cancer. The hospital started providing medical services since 1995. The hospital, in its beginning days, was effective with its services. Patients were receiving hassle-free medical treatment. However, the services provided by the hospital have deteriorated in the recent years owing to the increasing political influence. Appointing employees on basis of their political affiliation and unhealthy rivalry between employees affiliated to different parties, among others, have affected the hospital services.
Patients from both inside and outside, including India and Bangladesh, visit the hospital to receive medial treatment. But they are deprived of timely service. As a result, they are compelled to stay in hotels, waiting for their turn. Only those who have political affiliations are given prompt treatment. Because of all these problems, most of the patients who come to the hospital are compelled to return without receiving treatment. Though there have been efforts to reform the hospital, there has not been any progress so far.
The hospital was set up with the help of the Chinese government to provide inexpensive and accessible service to cancer patients.
“The hospital was doing fine in the initial years,” says Chairman of Cancer Sewa Samaj Shyam Lamichhane. “The downfall started when politics entered the hospital.”
There are nearly 600 employees working in the hospital; more than 22 million is spent on their salaries every year. While more than 100,000 patients visit the hospital every year, the service it offers is dismal. Most of the times, patients check out from the hospital without being treated, or are referred to private hospitals. “The medical equipment have also not been upgraded,” says Prakash Pandey, chief of the bio-medical engineering department at the hospital. What was once considered as one of the most modern cancer treatment facilities in the country is turning into a dysfunctional, outdated health institute that needs saving.
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