Six health workers, including a doctor, were assaulted at Palata Hospital in Thirpu, in Palata Rural Municipality-9 of remote Kalikot district, according to hospital authorities.

The violence began on Friday afternoon after two children started playing video games on the hospital premises, disturbing patients. A dispute broke out when hospital staff asked them to stop. The confrontation escalated, leaving a doctor, a staff nurse and a security guard injured.

The same group returned to the hospital at night, vandalised the facility and assaulted three more staff members, said hospital administrator Janmarishi Neupane.

Dr Ali Haider Rain, staff nurse Shanta Giri and security guard Gajendra Bam were assaulted during the afternoon incident. Later that night, auxiliary nurse-midwife Usha Shahi, auxiliary health worker Bishnu Rokaya and another security guard, Darn Damai, were attacked.

“They assaulted the doctor and others in the afternoon. They came back at night and assaulted three more people,” Neupane said. “The hospital was attacked and vandalised over the afternoon dispute.”

Police guarded the hospital throughout the night after the second attack, he said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Him Bahadur Khatri, chief of the Kalikot District Police Office, said the hospital remained tense after the afternoon assault and was attacked again at night.

Dr Rain, nurse Giri and security guard Bam have been working at the remote hospital for the past 16 months.

Police detained four people in connection with the assaults and vandalism, including 32-year-old Maina Bam of Thirpu, her husband Sushil Kumar Bam, resident Tapendra Bam and Maina’s 13-year-old son, Khatri said.

“A minor dispute escalated into assaults and vandalism,” Khatri said. “We are continuing the investigation.”

The dispute also appears to have been rooted in a disagreement between the hospital staff and their former landlord.

Dr Rain said other hospital workers had been renting rooms at the home of Sushil Kumar and Maina. They moved into the hospital’s staff quarters about a week ago after the hospital management committee decided to provide them with accommodation there.

“After that, the landlord began verbally abusing and humiliating the doctors and other health workers,” Rain said. “They attacked us out of anger over the move.”

The confrontation on Friday began when two of Maina’s sons came to the hospital compound while staff were treating a patient from neighbouring Bajura district.

The boys began playing video games, disturbing patients, Rain said.

“The security guard asked them to stop playing there because they were disturbing the patients, but they refused,” Rain said. “I also told them to leave. Their mother then began verbally abusing us.”

When Giri tried to intervene, she was attacked, Rain said.

“She (Maina) said the land belonged to them and told the children to play there,” he said. “When nurse Giri told her they could not disturb patients inside the hospital, the mother and son attacked her. I went to separate them, and they attacked me as well.”

Giri, who was injured in the assault, said the attack was linked to the family’s resentment after the health workers moved out of their house.

“They used to send the children to the hospital compound to cause disturbances because they were angry that we had moved into the hospital quarters,” Giri said. “When we asked them why they were disturbing patients, they attacked us.”

Bishnu Bahadur Rokaya, chairperson of Palata Rural Municipality, condemned the violence, saying it was particularly disturbing that health workers had been assaulted and hospital property damaged over what began as a minor dispute.

The District Police Office issued a statement on Friday saying a police team from the Area Police Office in Raskot, led by Inspector Satya Narayan Chaudhary, had detained four people, including a minor.

The hospital is about 48 kilometres from Manma, the administrative centre of Kalikot district.

Katak Mahat, information officer at the District Health Service Office, said the health workers had been attacked after moving from their landlord’s house to the hospital quarters.

“Assaulting doctors and health workers who have been serving in such a remote area is sheer intimidation,” Mahat said. “Those responsible must be prosecuted.”

Mahat said a resident had also assaulted the then head of the district hospital, Dr Sanket Bishwokarma, in Thirpu last year.

According to him, the latest incident occurred at around 1:15pm on Friday, shortly after the doctors and other health workers moved from Maina’s house to the hospital quarters. He said the landlord then came to the hospital, picked a fight with the staff and assaulted them.

The same group, along with several other people who appeared to have been drinking alcohol, later returned to the hospital and vandalised the facility, Mahat said.

Sushil Kumar, however, rejected the hospital’s account and alleged that Dr Rain had assaulted his 13-year-old son.

“The doctor beat my child while trying to separate them,” he said.

Health workers across Kalikot have called for an investigation into the incident and demanded action against those responsible.