DADELDHURA, Oct 30: Baitadi District Hospital has remained without any doctor for the past two months despite quota for three, affecting service delivery.
After Dr Surya Prasad Bhusal, the only remaining doctor, got transferred two months back, the only hospital in the district has been badly affected and is run by assistant health workers (AHW).
Patients coming to the hospital from far-flung villages have been forced to go to Dadeldhura and Pithauragadh, India spending a large amount of money. “The locals have been deprived of healthcare facility in the absence of doctors,” says Ramesh Bhatta, a local.
Dr Jagat Jeevan Ghimire and Dr Uma Giri had been transferred before Bhusal and the hospital that has posts for three doctors, two AHWs, one assistant nurse midwife (ANM) and four staff nurses currently has just two AHWs and an ANM to provide service for more than 50 patients daily.
In the absence of doctors, patients have to spend thousands for even minor problems. The X-ray machine has been unused for years in the absence of technician forcing people of Baitadi to go to India. “I don´t know when the replacement doctors will arrive,” says AHW Mohan Singh Thagunna.
Assistant Chief District Officer Gangadhar Paudel says doctors have to be brought from other districts to do postmortems while local social worker Hari Prasad Bhatta says requests for doctors have fallen on deaf ears. “We have even met ministers on a numerous occasions, but the doctors have not arrived,” Bhatta says.
This is not just an isolated case of the district hospital and even health centers in villages have been under-manned, or un-manned, for months. The district hospital in neighboring Bajhang also has only one doctor despite vacancy for two.
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