Upgradation of Lumbini Provincial Hospital in Butwal is one of the major priorities set by the Province 5 government.

The plan, however, has not progressed smoothly, as the hospital’s property has been encroached upon by private homes and commercial buildings.

As per the record available at the District Survey Office, the hospital currently owns about six bighas, though the land-ownership certificate issued in 1995 shows that the hospital owns eight bighas land.

The survey office said the hospital’s land was encroached upon time and again while expanding the highway and roads around it.

“We could not reclaim the encroached land because of a measurement problem in the land map. We are now preparing to acquire land from the forest office to develop the master plan for the hospital,” said Krishna Prasad Khanal, the medical superintendent of the hospital.

The hospital is planning to acquire one bigha and four katthas land from the forest office.

The provincial government has formed a committee under Ishwor Gautam, the vice-chairman of the provincial planning commission, to prepare a master plan for the upgradation of the hospital.

The master plan envisages increasing the hospital’s bed capacity to 950 from the current 260 beds, upgrading the medical testing facilities and building a separate diagnostic building to operate CT scan and MRI facilities, among others.

As part of the master plan, a six-storey hospital building is currently under construction at the cost of Rs 170 million.