Nepal Health News, Kathmandu – The Gandaki Provincial Government has decided to dissolve all existing hospital management committees under its jurisdiction and restructure them under a new format. In a meeting held on Tuesday, the provincial cabinet passed an order to annul all previously formed committees and establish new ones.
Currently, the provincial government oversees 14 community hospitals and 2 Ayurvedic hospitals. Going forward, new committees will be formed based on the bed capacity of each hospital.
According to the new order, hospitals with 100 or more beds will have a committee chaired by a permanent resident of the concerned district who holds at least a postgraduate degree. This chairperson will be appointed by the provincial government.
For hospitals with 50 beds, the chairperson must be a permanent local resident with at least a bachelor’s degree. In hospitals with up to 25 beds, the chairperson will also be a local individual selected by the provincial government. Thus, the process of forming hospital management committees will differ depending on the size and level of each hospital.
Hospitals with over 100 beds will have a 9-member committee comprising: the local government chief or their representative, two members appointed by the Ministry (including at least one woman), representatives from the District Administration Office and the Accounts Comptroller Office, one permanent specialist doctor from the hospital, the chief nurse, and the Medical Superintendent who will serve as member-secretary. A similar structure will be applied to 50-bed hospitals, with some differences in educational qualifications. For smaller hospitals with 25 beds or fewer, a 7-member committee will be formed.
Members nominated by the Health Ministry will serve a three-year term, while hospital-employed doctors on the committee will serve for a term determined by the committee. To qualify for committee membership, an individual must not have been convicted of any criminal offense.
Specifically, individuals convicted of crimes such as corruption, rape, human trafficking, drug smuggling, passport fraud, kidnapping, or other offenses indicating moral turpitude will be disqualified from serving on the committee. Likewise, operators or major shareholders of private hospitals will no longer be eligible to become members of public hospital committees.
According to Health Minister Krishna Pathak, the province had already upgraded the status of all hospitals in Gandaki some time ago, and this new structure is expected to improve transparency, accountability, and efficiency in service delivery.
