Docs’ shortage affects services in Koshi Hospital

Docs’ shortage affects services in Koshi Hospital

BHIM GHIMIRE, BEDRAJ POUDEL

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BIRATNAGAR, JUL 16 -

Severe shortage of doctor s has affected the medical services at the Koshi Zonal Hospital in Biratnagar.

High doctor -to-patient ratio has prompted the hospital authorities to cut down health services. The hospital has even started refusing to admit patients in some cases.

The maternity ward in the hospital is largely vacant these days after it stopped handling complicated pregnancies. The hospital used to receive the second largest crowd of pregnant women in the country after the Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital in Kathmandu. It has been nearly a week since the hospital stopped receiving delivery cases that require surgery.

Dr Umakanta Jha, the hospital’s medical superintendent, said they could not handle all maternity cases as they had only two doctor s in the ward.

Two months earlier, two doctor s from the gynecology department retired from their jobs. Five more doctor s resigned shortly after, putting the hospital into trouble it has yet to recover.

“There were two other doctor s who were offering voluntary services in the maternity department but they left for Kathmandu on Friday. Their departure had a big impact in the maternity service and we had to stop receiving women with complicated pregnancies.” Meanwhile, patients like Jayanti Chaudhary, who cannot afford to go to private hospitals, wait outside the maternity ward, struggling with labour pain with no one around to offer medical help.

There are around 30 hospitals and nursing homes in Biratnagar Submetropolis, yet the Koshi Zonal Hospital sees a large crowd of patients due to affordable services. The hospital has 53 posts for government doctor while the Hospital Development Committee can also appoint doctor s as required.

According to Dr Jha, the shortage of doctor s has affected the departments of ENT, Orthopedics, Radiology, Dermatology, Dentistry, Pathology, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Maternity. “It is hard to find doctor s who are willing to work for government hospitals because of low pay compared to the private ones. They can run a private clinic and earn more than what is paid in government hospitals,” Dr Jha said. “Even the Health Ministry has not been able to fill the vacant posts.”