The Charikot Hospital in Dolakha on Thursday shut down its emergency service, protesting the incident where a group of doctors were forced to apologise before cameras over the death of a two-year-old boy.

After the apology video went viral on social media, the hospital had halted all services, except for emergency, on Wednesday. The hospital staff have claimed that the doctors were humiliated by the patient’s relatives in presence of police and officials from the District Administration Office (DAO).

Assistant Chief District Officer Aulakh Bahadur Ale, however, dismissed the claim made by the protesting hospital employees. There were no police personnel, nor the officials from the DAO when the doctors were filmed apologising, he claimed.   

Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased boy have expressed remorse over the way the incident took shape. The incident was politicised when all we wanted by making the doctors apologise was improvement in services and better care for patients in the coming days, said the boy’s grandfather, Bahadur Rijal.

He also said that shutting down the hospital was a mistake. The hospital shutdown has greatly inconvenienced the Dolakha people. Around 300 people visited the hospital on a daily basis.

With the closure, many people have been forced to visit private health facilities that charge high fees.