DANG, Sept 12: The procedure to construct a building of a blood bank in Tulsipur has been affected due to a drawn-out row between Nepal Red Cross Society and Rapti Zonal hospital over where the new structure should stand.
As the two parties lock their horns over a plot of land, the patients in dire need of blood continue to suffer. It all started after the Red Cross unilaterally laid foundation stone for the blood bank building a few months ago just beside the main gate of the zonal hospital. The latter opposed the move stating the building will obstruct its entrance, and offered another plot of land. [break]
But the Red Cross, which maintains that it can afford to meet its operational cost only by leasing extra rooms of the new building, turned down the offer, stating the plot offered by the hospital could not be rented. Then the hospital moved court. And an appellate court has recently ruled that the Red Cross should construct the building wherever the hospital provides a plot of land for the purpose.
But the Red Cross remains adamant. "Court decision is not straight forward. We are not going change the site for the building," says Narayan Acharya, chairman of the Red Cross Society of Dang.
The hospital has now come up with a new proposal, which again does not seem to be acceptable to the Red Cross:
"If the Red Cross agrees to build a one-roomed building at the entrance we will let them do so," says Dr Kedar Senchuri, the Medical Superintendent.