Leaderless cancer hospital: Services disrupted for two months

Nepal Health News, Nepalgunj – The Sushil Koirala Prakhar Cancer Hospital, located in Khajura of Banke, has been facing disruptions in daily services and administrative operations for the past two months due to the absence of an executive chief.

Previously, Dr. Prakash Prasad Sah was serving as the Executive Director, but following his transfer to Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital in Rajbiraj, the hospital has been left without leadership. Although Dr. Praveen Gupta, who is currently working at the hospital, has been appointed as the acting director, the hospital source stated that the lack of financial authority has made management difficult.

According to Mahendra Mall, a member of the Hospital Development Committee, delays in administrative decisions and financial complications have arisen due to the Ministry of Health and Population’s failure to appoint a new director. He mentioned that salary distribution has come to a halt, and a shortage of medicines, chemicals, and reagents has made it difficult to provide services.

As problems have begun to surface in laboratory services, patients are now being forced to seek diagnostic tests elsewhere. This situation has placed an additional burden on financially disadvantaged patients.

Furthermore, the construction of the hospital's day-care building, lab building, and pharmacy has also been delayed. Despite repeated notifications to the Ministry, there has been a delay in appointing a new executive director. Although Minister Pradeep Paudel has assured that a solution will be provided soon, no new chief has been appointed so far.

As this hospital in Khajura is the only cancer treatment center in western Nepal, the daily patient load continues to increase. The lack of leadership has raised concerns that the hospital’s entire service system may collapse.