When she suffered from pro­fuse menstrual bleeding, 22-year-old Ruma Tharu was brought to Bheri Zonal Hospital on January 5. She needed blood urgently, and was given O+. Medical attendants informed Tha­ru she would need another pint of blood the following morning, which her father Raju Tharu procured from a blood center run by the Nepal Red Cross Society. However, the blood that the center gave to Tharu was of B+ category. Soon after, Ruma started developing blisters all over her body. Both her kidneys stopped functioning. Ruma’s family staged a protest. The hospital suspended the nurse who had administered the blood. Ruma was brought to the capital and she survived. But she has become extremely weak.

Locals says the 150-bed Bheri Zon­al Hospital is marred by political interference, staff negligence and general mismanagement. Its ser­vices are increasingly brokered by middlemen. Many are compelled to seek treatment at expensive private hospitals.

It was only a month ago that the hospital administration caught a middleman who was sweet-talking patients into seeking private medi­cal services. But no action was taken against him. Reportedly, he was close to a senior hospital staffer.

The hospital is one of the few pub­lic hospitals in western Nepal with a cardiology department. But its echocardiogram machine, worth some Rs 8 million, has been broken for seven months. An echocardio­gram examination costs Rs 850 at the hospital, but private hospitals charge over Rs 2,000 for it. Similar­ly, a TMT machine bought one and a half years ago for Rs 1.3 million is also kaput. Dialysis services, which the hospital was supposed to pro­vide starting a year ago, only began two months ago.

Poor service quality owes to the carelessness of the Hospital Devel­opment Committee, alleges former committee chairman Bed Prasad Acharya. But Bir Bahadur Chand, medical superintendent at the hos­pital, claims that there has been steady progress. “Staff shortages have caused some problems, but specialized services have been improving. There hasn’t been any negligence.

What about the broken echo­cardiogram machine? “We have brought in technicians to repair it. It should be up and running a few days,” says Chand.

The hospital has had eight heads in past nine years, an apparent sign of excessive politicking. It was only in October 2016 when Chand replaced Dr Shyam Sundar Yadav, who is credited with important reforms in the hospital’s functioning. The appointment of Chand, a junior radiologist, has not gone down well with the staff and is apparently against the Health Guidelines, which stipulate that only someone from the ‘General Health’ category can be appointed medical superintendent.

Usha Shah, who currently heads the Hospital Development Commit­tee, blames it all on lack of funds. “We are committed to quality care. We have asked the government for additional resources,” she said.

By Govinda Devkota

New Delhi: Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada was in India this week to take part in a counter-terrorism confer­ence in Gurgaon. Khatiwada was the keynote speaker at the event that was organized by the India Foundation, a think-tank close to the ruling BJP party. In the conference, Khatiwada presented Nepal’s views on counter-terrorism. The conference, according to the organizers, was held to analyze the changing contours of terrorism and evolve strate­gies to equip the international community with the ability to counter the menace of terror­ism. APEX BUREAU

Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, has drawn 276,620 tourists in the two months of January and February, accord­ing to the Lumbini Development Trust. This is almost 100,000 fewer tourists than in the first two months of 2017, when 376,600 visitors had come to Lumbini.Of the 276,620 tourists visiting Lumbini this year, 223,016 were Nepalis, 24,095 were Indi­ans while 29,509 were from other countries, according to the trust’s information officer Rajan Basnet. While the number of Indian tour­ists increased slightly this year, the number of Nepali tourists went down considerably. The number of tourists from other countries also declined. According to Basnet, tourists from over 50 countries have already visited Lumbini this year. In this period, besides India, Thailand has sent the most number of foreign tourists (7,928) to Lumbini, followed by Myanmar (6,689), Sri Lanka (5,733), China (2,821) and South Korea (1,406).

Tourist arrival had suffered in 2016 because of the twin effects of the earthquake and the blockade. It picked up steam in 2017 only to slow down this year. “Most tourists to Lumbini come via the Nepal-India border. Although their primary destination is Lumbini, they don’t stay here overnight,” said Achyut Guragain, vice-chairman of Nepal Tour and Travels Asso­ciation. “That’s because they come here with Indian guides, who tell them that although Buddha was born here, other significant places associated with his life all are in India.

As a result, local businesses haven’t been able to flourish as much as they would if the tourists stayed here longer.”

 By Salman Khan  

Weekly Editorial Cartoon 

KATHMANDU: For the very first time in its cricket history, Nepal has won the one-day international (ODI) status for the next four years. 

Nepal has been assured of the ODI status after it beat Papua New Guinea by six wickets and the Netherlands defeated Hong Kong by 44 runs in the ICC World Cup Qualifier held in Zimbabwe last Thursday. 

With this, Nepal would get to participate in different tournaments organized by ICC while ICC's support to Nepal's cricket would be further increased. 

RSS

Bidya Devi Bhandari elected as Nepal president for second term

A Bangladeshi plane with 67 passengers on board crashed near Kathmandu airport Monday as it was coming in to land, officials said, as firefighters battled to extinguish the burning wreckage and rescue passengers.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football pitch where the plane crashed, to the east of the runway at Nepal's only international airport, in the capital Kathmandu.

"There were 67 passengers and 4 crew members" aboard the plane, said airport spokesman Prem Nath Thakur.

"So far 20 injured have been taken to the hospital. Police and army are trying to cut apart the plane to rescue others," he added.

AFP

Update: 

There were 33 Nepalis on board the aircraft, according to TIA officials. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has visited the airport following the crash and took stock of the situation.

The real reason for the crash is yet to be ascertained. Eyewitness accounts suggest the crash may have been caused in the course of an aborted landing. The airport has been indefinitely closed.

Update: 

46 people are now confirmed dead. Of them, at least 13 are Nepali nationals.

The TIA that had been shut down earlier has been opened, according to Rastriya Samachar Samiti.  

For the names of all those on board the aircraft go to:

http://annapurnapost.com/news-details/93119

‘Udhyami Nepal’, a business guide portal for Nepali entrepre­neurs, was launched this week by Bikas Udhyami in partnership with the National Youth Coun­cil. The portal aims to provide aspiring and existing entrepre­neurs business information and to connect skilled workers to companies.

The launch program, attended by Vice-Chairman of National Youth Council Madhav Dhungel, also saw the launch of an e-book titled, ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Nepal: Stories of Young Entre­preneurs Changing the Way Busi­ness is Done.’