According to the hospital administration, the hospital has only 184 beds for cancer patients though even 500 beds would prove inadequate given the flow of patients. [break]
The plan to expand the hospital to include 300 beds for incoming patients by 2009 hasn´t moved forward.
The hospital was built with Chinese assistance and had come into operation from June 1999. “The hospital had 100 inpatient beds when it started. There are 184 beds now. But the hospital needs at least 500 beds as the current capacity is too little to accommodate the increasing number of patients,” Dr Laxmi Narayan Singh, executive director of the hospital said. According to Singh, over 90,000 cancer patients visit the hospital annually.
The expansion is necessary even to meet the WHO standard.
According to a long term plan of the hospital, drafted in 2004, the hospital was to be expanded to accommodate 300 inpatients.
“The plan was to be executed with the Chinese cooperation. However, Nepal failed to reach an agreement with Chinese government amid the political instability in the country,” informed Singh.
With the financial help from health ministry, the hospital has started to construct a separate building to accommodate 200 inpatients. Although the construction began six month ago, there hasn´t been much progress in lack of budget. The construction of the new building is estimated to cost 350 million rupees.
Bharatpur cancer hospital is the only well-equipped cancer hospital in the country. People from the areas near the India border also visit the hospital seeking treatment. The hospital has been providing 13 kinds of medical services for cancer patients. The medical staff at the hospital includes 14 Chinese and 63 Nepali doctors and 136 nurses.
“We can´t increase the number of doctors and nurses without adding increasing the number of beds at the hospital. Increasing the number of beds, therefore, has become essential for the smooth delivery of medical services,” Singh said.
Related story
Purbanchal Cancer Hospital comes into operation in Birtamod
