Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), a government agency under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), had constructed the building.
The DUDBC had claimed that the hospital building could withstand earthquakes of up to 8.5 magnitude. However, the hospital building could not even hold out against the magnitude 7.6 April earthquake, with its epicenter in Barpak of Gorkha district. Experts note that the tremors caused by the earthquake and the aftershocks would have decreased in force by the time they reached to Sindhupalchowk. "The building should not have been destroyed even if magnitude 7.6 earthquake had hit Sindhupalchowk," said Mahendra Bahadur Shrestha, chief of Policy Planning and International Cooperation Division at the MoHP. He said he was suspicious of the DUDBC's work. "My home was built some 20 years ago without hiring an engineer, yet it was not affected by the quake. How can a public health facility build by a government agency be destroyed so easily?" questioned Shrestha.
He said that the huge amount of money spent from the state coffer for constructing the building has gone in vain. "There should be a serious probe into the construction of the hospital building. We have already informed the cabinet about the negligence and possible misuse of funds," informed Shrestha.
He informed that Health Minister Ramjanam Chaudhary has taken the matter seriously and will raise the issue seriously in the cabinet meeting.
The MoHP informed that the People's Republic of China has pledged to construct the hospital building. Several countries, including the United States of America and India, had expressed interest to build the district hospital. The MoHP earlier had decided to allow the US government to construct the building but later backed off from the decision after the Chinese government took direct approval from the Ministry of Finance to build the hospital.
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