Medical services at the Sarlahi District Hospital in Malangawa have been affected, as doctors have stopped working due to “an internal  dispute” which the hospital management has refused to disclose. Patients from various places of the district have been compelled to visit private hospitals and clinics due to the absence of doctors.

When the Post contacted the hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Birendra Mandal for a comment on Tuesday, he said that he was attending a meeting and could not talk. He did not answer his phone when the Post tried to reach him, repeatedly, later in the day.

Kaushal Singh, a civil society leader, said the doctors’ dispute was not the only thing affecting hospital services. The hospital suffers from poor management, which is evident in the way the facility has been maintained, he added.

“The hospital is filthy and the hospital administration has not been doing anything about it.”

Ishwori Shrestha, the ward chairman of Malangawa Municipality-8, agrees about poor management at the hospital.

Although the ward office has taken an initiative to make hospital services effective, he said the health workers have put no effort to improve the quality  of services.

“Patients have also been deprived of free medicines distributed by the government as a result of the hospital’s negligence,” Shrestha said.