GORKHA, June 14: A hospital building in Gorkha has been renting its rooms to locals who have set up eateries and also sell liquor.

This is a violation of rules that prohibit the sale of liquor near hospitals.

Lions Club Eye Hospital in Gorkha has rented four out of five shutters in its ground floor to eateries and two of them even sell alcohol including hooch. The locals have complained with the hospital about the noise and ruckus created by drunkards but in vain. They said that the hospital has not taken any action because it earns hefty amount in rent from the eateries.

“There is a hospital upstairs and local eateries downstairs,” a local said, adding, “It is very shameful even to look at it.”

The hospital collects Rs 30,500 as rent per month from the eateries. The hospital authorities informed that they had to rent the rooms to the local eateries because people didn't want to run other businesses on the hospital premises.

The District Administration Office is responsible for the inspection of these local eateries but since the inspection only takes place annually during the festive season, owners of the eateries are hardly affected by the rules that prohibit alcohol sales near hospitals.

The administration is yet to carry out any inspection of these local eateries.

It has been nearly five years since the hospital was built with a budget of Rs 9.2 million collected from joint efforts of the locals, social workers and the Lions Club.

The hospital is visited by 20-35 patients per day.

“We should have set some preconditions while renting out the rooms to such eateries,” Lions Club President Ajit Kumar Shrestha told Republica, adding, “We are now in the process to remove the eateries.”

 
• eateries
 
• hospital
 
• sell
 
• hooch