Gandaki. The services of all hospitals under the Gandaki Provincial Government are to be expanded and upgraded. Minister for Health Krishna Prasad Pathak has informed that a ministerial decision has been taken regarding the hospital upgrade and it has been sent to the Office of Economic Affairs and the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers for decision.
‘Since the upgrading of hospitals is seen as necessary for the provision of accessible and quality services to the citizens, work is being done accordingly,’ he said, ‘After the decision of the Council of Ministers, the upgrading work will move forward further.’
According to Minister for Health Pathak, Provincial Hospitals Mustang and Manang are to be upgraded from 15 beds to 25 beds. Stating that Damauli Hospital in Parbat, Syangja and Tanahun will be upgraded from 15 to 50 beds, he mentioned that the Ministry of Health has a plan to increase the 25-bed capacity of Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Kaski to 50 beds.
Health Minister Pathak informed that Dhaulagiri Provincial Hospital in Baglung is being upgraded from 50 to 100 beds and Madhyabindu Provincial Hospital in Nawalpur is being upgraded from 15 to 100 beds. He said that work has been started to prepare the infrastructure to teach technical education in Dhaulagiri and Madhyabindu Provincial Hospitals from the coming fiscal year.
Health Minister Pathak said that since there is a provision that only 100-bed hospitals can teach technical subjects, the hospitals are being upgraded accordingly. Provincial hospitals in Gorkha, Lamjung and Myagdi are already operating with 50 beds. The provincial government is taking over Aanppipal Hospital in Gorkha and Burtibang Hospital in Baglung in the current fiscal year.
Both hospitals have been upgraded to 50 beds and operated under new management at the local level. Earlier, Burtibang Hospital in Dhorpatan Municipality was operated as a primary health center. Aanppipal Hospital was under Palungtar Municipality in Gorkha.
The provincial government brought Burtibang and Aanppipal Hospitals under its control after the local level requested the provincial government to take over the responsibility, informed Health Minister Pathak. These two hospitals came under the provincial government after the federal cabinet approved the proposal of the provincial cabinet.
In the same year, Gandaki Ayurveda Hospital in Kaski and Dhaulagiri Ayurveda Hospital in Baglung were also upgraded as 25-bed Ayurveda hospitals with inpatient services. Health Minister Pathak informed that after the decision to upgrade, human resources, infrastructure and equipment will be managed systematically in the hospitals. According to him, the number of beds approved now is 395, but with the upgrade, it will reach about 700.
‘Hospitals are already operating over 800 beds, but with the upgrade according to the new proposal, 21 beds can be brought into operation,” Minister Pathak said. “Currently, the annual income of hospitals is about Rs 660 million, and the ministry estimates that the income will increase threefold if the hospitals can be managed with the upgrade.”
According to the ministry, the hospital has 564 permanent positions, of which 187 are yet to be filled. The ministry stated that 1,133 people are currently working in hospitals under the province, including more than 800 contract workers. Minister Pathak said that a total of 1,244 positions need to be managed, including the positions that are yet to be filled, when hospitals are upgraded. .
‘Quality service can be provided in hospitals by properly managing the temporary and contract manpower currently working, upgrading will not incur a huge expenditure on the provincial government,’ he said. ‘There is a need to make hospitals self-sufficient with manpower and internal expenditure management, it cannot depend solely on the federal government, the provincial government should make its own plans for the development of its hospitals.
Health Minister Pathak expressed confidence that the health sector will become more organized after the law is made, as the ministry has forwarded the bill related to public health services to the provincial assembly.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्