The Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital in Rajbiraj is now being upgraded into a fully-facilitated hospital.

In the last two months, the hospital— once termed as a ‘refer centre' for its ability to offer only limited health services— has started extending various services including specialist health care to patients. The hospital has filled all nine quotas for medical specialists, enabling it to cater to more patients, according to Dr Chumanlal Das, medical superintendent at the hospital.

In the past, health services at the hospital were badly affected due to poor infrastructure and a lack of health workers and facilities. With the upgrade, the hospital now provides specialist services on medicine, surgery, pediatric, anaesthesia, ENT (Ear Nose Throat), orthopaedic, radiology and dentistry.

Patients from Saptari until a few months ago had to travel to Biratnagar or Dharan-based hospitals to seek medical attention from specialists.

The hospital plans to start an Intensive Care Unit, a dialysis centre and provide CT scan services, said Das.

“The flow of patients has increased after the hospital started providing specialist services. People from Saptari now don’t have to travel outside the district to seek treatment,” Das said.

The 125-bed hospital receives around 200 to 250 patients in the outpatient department daily, according to Das.

The health facility, formerly known as Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital, was renamed as Gajendra Narayan Singh Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital seven years ago. In the running fiscal year, the Ministry of Health and Population has allocated a budget of Rs 760 million for the hospital’s upgradation.