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After serving for two years at the Gandaki Province Communicable and Infectious Disease Hospital in Lekhnath, Pokhara, pediatrician Dr. Prakash Bhattarai quit his full-time job and moved into private practice.

He now runs two polyclinics at Shishuwa and Talchowk in Lekhnath.

Dr. Bhattarai says he was compelled to switch careers because he saw no hope of recovering the tens of millions of rupees he had invested in his medical education.

“Becoming a doctor costs millions, but the government pay scale is the same for everyone,” he says. “On top of that, doctors working in local public hospitals are not even allowed to work elsewhere. How is a doctor supposed to make a living?”

Dr Bhattarai represents many doctors who want to work locally but cannot survive on full-time jobs in local hospitals alone. His bitter-sweet experiences reflect not only the struggles of doctors but also of local hospitals established to serve communities and of residents who genuinely care about the development of their local area.

Last year, youth entrepreneur Kapil Paudel personally experienced the value of having a local hospital when he helped save the life of a seriously injured man.
A bus had hit a motorcycle on the Talchowk–Dandakonak road.

Some youths rushed the severely injured rider toward Pokhara in a taxi. But they were trapped in a traffic jam at Bijayapur.

Kapil, who happened to be riding his motorcycle nearby, saw the bleeding victim gasping for life through the taxi window. With no sign of traffic clearing, he immediately stopped, informed the taxi driver that a hospital was very close by, turned the taxi around, and accompanied the group to Lekhnath City Hospital in Budhibazar, Pokhara-26.

“That incident was engraved in my mind and heart. That day, I understood the true importance of local health services,” Kapil says.

His feelings reflect the experience of most people in Lekhnath. Once an independent municipality, Lekhnath was merged into Pokhara about a decade ago, but many locals still feel it has been sidelined in development and services.

The incident Kapil describes, and the hospital he led the victim to, perfectly illustrate this sentiment.

Low trust in local hospital

Established in 2018 (2075 BS) as the first private hospital in the area, Lekhnath City Hospital was built with an investment of over Rs 40m by local youth and social activists. Yet the hospital has never been able to earn enough to cover its expenses.

“Somehow locals haven’t given it the attention we expected. So the hospital hasn’t grown as we had planned,” says founding chairman Udeep Raj Dhungana.
Managing Director Akash Basnet adds that the hospital struggles to bring in doctors—and when doctors are available, there are not enough patients.

“Even patients who know us personally often pass by and go to hospitals in central Pokhara,” he says. “Distrust of local hospitals is like a disease here.”
According to Basnet, the hospital recently added gynecology and pediatrics services.

It already offered orthopedics, general physician services, ENT, dermatology, laboratory services, and more. About 400 patients come monthly, but Basnet says this is still far too few to sustain the hospital. The management has been running community outreach and social responsibility campaigns to raise awareness.

Public hospitals face the same story

Shishuwa Hospital, one of the oldest and one of the only two government hospitals in the former Lekhnath Municipality, offers only basic primary-level services. Local health workers say people hesitate to visit nearby hospitals because they think they will be referred elsewhere due to lack of services.

“Because of the low patient flow, authorities also show little interest in upgrading the hospital,” says Shishuwa Hospital Chief Dr Suman Khaniya.
Other hospitals in Lekhnath share similar struggles. Pokhara University Teaching Hospital, which started services last year, has 100 beds, which are mostly empty.

On average, only 50 patients visit daily, according to Chief Dr Madan Khadka. Eleven doctors serve daily, but the hospital is facing procedural difficulties in starting ICU, NICU, maternity, and other critical services.

A growing population but lagging health infrastructure

Lekhnath is geographically larger than central Pokhara, and its population is rapidly approaching similar levels. But residents say it still struggles to establish itself institutionally and in policy terms as a functional part of the metropolis.

According to the Urban Health Division of Pokhara Metropolitan City, Pokhara has more than two dozen hospitals, with about half a dozen—both public and private—located in Lekhnath. Public Health Officer Subash Bastola says patient flow in Lekhnath hospitals is comparatively very low.

“It is very difficult to retain doctors in the local area,” says Dr Khaniya. “If doctors can work only in one or two small hospitals, they cannot sustain their livelihood. So getting doctors for local hospitals is extremely challenging.”

Experts say that the government must provide special subsidies and incentives to both public and private hospitals in local areas if they are to retain doctors and improve services.

A woman died after being attacked by a wild elephant at Syaule in Bhimdutta Municipality-14, Kanchanpur district on Tuesday.

DSP Sagar Bohara of the District Police Office, Kanchanpur, said that the deceased has been identified as  45-year-old Dhana Bista. 

Critically injured in the attack, Bista died during the course of treatment at the Mahakali Provincial Hospital. 

Nepal concluded its participation at the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a very small team of around 20 negotiating officials. 

From securing global recognition for mountain ecosystems to amplifying the voice of vulnerable nations, Nepal’s delegation—though small—played a strategic and coordinated role throughout the two-week summit in Belém, Brazil.

According to Maheshwar Dhakal, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Environment and Nepal’s national focal point for the UNFCCC, the country’s presence at COP30 was marked by “strong leadership, intensive engagement, and historic outcomes” for its long-pursued mountain agenda.

COP30 opened with a series of preparatory sessions starting Nov 4—LDC Group meetings on Nov 4–5, Leaders’ Summit on Nov 6–7, and G77 and China consultations on Nov 8–9. The main negotiations ran from Nov 10–21, with discussions extending unofficially until Nov 22.

Nepal’s delegation, led by Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister Madan Prasad Pariyar participated in a number of engagements. Supported by senior officials including MOFE Secretary Rajendra Prasad Mishra, OPMCM Secretary Govinda Karki, MoALD Secretary Deepak Kharal, and Nepal’s Ambassador to Brazil Nirmal Kafley, the team included representatives from government, civil society, academia, and the media.

The highlight of Nepal’s COP30 engagement was the successful global recognition of the mountain agenda, an advocacy effort pursued jointly with Bhutan and Kyrgyzstan.

Nepal held two rounds of consultations with the COP30 Presidency, resulting in three major achievements. First on agreement to hold an Annual Dialogue on Mountains and Climate Change, beginning at SB64 in June 2026. The second one on inclusion of mountain ecosystems in the Global Mutirão (Mutirão) decision text, the main outcome document of COP30.

And the third on recognition of the mountain agenda in the preamble of the COP30 cover decision, as well as in the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) text.

Dhakal noted that this was “the strongest visibility that mountain issues have ever received at the UNFCCC,” indicating that years of persistent diplomacy had finally begun to pay off.

Nepal backed three key declarations proposed by the COP30 Presidency. Tropical Forest Facility Forever, Integrated Fire Management Declaration, Sustainable Fossil Fuel Management Declaration are on the list. Officials said these positions align with Nepal’s commitments to forest conservation and climate-resilient development.

Minister Pariyar delivered Nepal’s national statement at the high-level plenary, emphasizing the urgent need to protect vulnerable communities in the Himalayas. He also participated in 11 high-level events, including Nepal’s flagship program, “Sagarmatha to Belém”.

MOFE Secretary Mishra spoke at the Leader Summit and presented a joint statement on behalf of Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan at the opening plenary, highlighting the shared vulnerabilities of Himalayan and South Asian nations.

OPMCM Secretary Govinda Karki addressed climate finance during a ministerial dialogue, calling for stronger global support to implement Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

Nepal’s non-governmental actors and media delegates also remained active throughout, engaging in pavilion events and side discussions with development partners.

In its closing remarks, Nepal underscored the existential threat posed by global warming to Himalayan ecosystems: “For Nepal, keeping global temperature rise below 1.5°C is not just a number in an agreement—it is a matter of survival.”

Nepal welcomed the Mutirão decision, commitments to adaptation and loss and damage funding, and the new annual mountain dialogue. It also expressed gratitude to Brazil for its hospitality and congratulated Turkey and Australia for being selected to co-host COP31, and Ethiopia, the first LDC to host COP32.

Nepal expressed appreciation for the COP30 Presidency’s leadership in negotiating the mountain text. “As climate impacts intensify, the urgency to respond to the unique challenges faced by mountain regions is greater than ever,” Nepal said, while expressing hope that a formal agenda item on mountains could be secured in the future.

Despite limited numbers, Nepal maintained high internal coordination through regular meetings and media briefings. Dhakal said the quality of Nepal’s interventions, the unity among delegates, and strong collaboration with other mountainous nations were widely appreciated.

He added that Nepal’s mountain agenda is now “close to the establishment phase,” with further efforts needed in the lead-up to COP31 and SB64.

As COP30 concluded, Nepal’s delegation returned home preparing for a formal debrief. With COP31 set to be hosted jointly by Turkey and Australia, and COP32 by Ethiopia, Nepal aims to continue building momentum toward securing formal recognition and sustained support for mountain regions, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable ecosystems.

In Dec 2023, COP28 held in Dubai passed an ambitious plan to dramatically cut the use of petrol, gas, and coal by 2050, expand the use of renewable energy, and bring fossil-fuel emissions down to net zero. A total of 198 countries signed the agreement.

However, shortly after signing, countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, and India backtracked on their commitments, arguing that the continued use of fossil fuels was necessary to meet global energy needs.

The United States, which had played a crucial role in securing signatures during COP28, has shown little interest in the issue after Donald Trump returned to the presidency. Trump has labeled climate change “the biggest hoax in the world.”

This time, he did not send any official federal delegation to Belém. At Belém, more than 80 countries from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa expressed the need for a clear roadmap to implement the COP28 commitments. But under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, countries like China, India, and Russia blocked progress on the agenda. As a result, the final agreement made no mention of fossil fuels at all.

International media also reported COP30 as a flop. “This year’s UN climate conference in Brazil had many unique aspects that could have been part of an historic outcome,” AP wrote adding, “The final decision announced Saturday, which included some tangible things like an increase in money to help developing nations adapt to climate change, was overall watered-down compared to many conferences in the past decade and fell far short of many delegates’ expectations. It didn’t mention the words ‘fossil fuels’, much less include a timeline to reduce their use.” 

Instead of being remembered as historic, the conference will likely further erode confidence in a process that many environmentalists and even some world leaders have argued isn’t up to the challenge of confronting global temperature rise, which is leading to more frequent and intense extreme weather events like floods, storms and heat waves, it said.

Reuters said that Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had launched the summit calling for countries to agree on a ‘roadmap’ for advancing a COP28 pledge to shift away from fossil fuels.

“But it was a road to nowhere at this summit, as oil-rich Arab nations and others dependent on fossil fuels blocked any mention of the issue. Instead, the COP30 presidency created a voluntary plan that countries could sign on to—or not,” it wrote. “The result was similar to Egypt's COP27 and Azerbaijan’s COP29, where countries agreed to spend more money to address climate dangers while ignoring their primary cause.”

The Bibaha Panchami festival is being marked across the country today. 

The festival that commemorates the union of Princess Sita and Lord Ram in Treta Yug (Vedic era) is celebrated with gaiety and religious fervour in Janakpurdham.

The festival is observed on the fifth day of Marga Shukla Paksha (waxing moon) in the Nepali month of Mangsir as per the lunar calendar. 

On the first day of the festival, Nagar Darshan (Town visit) ritual is scheduled. Part of the celebration includes two children dressed as Ram and his brother Laxman parading around the ancient Janaki Temple.

The second day is known as Phulbari Leela and is marked by dance performances and colourful processions. The third day is Dhanusha Yagya followed by Tilakotsav on the fourth day. The fifth day is celebrated as Matkor and the final day is Ram Sita Swoyambar, the engagement day.    

Next day, the visitors comprising saints and religious leaders from nearby Indian cities including Ayodhya are arriving at Janakpurdham to attend the re-enacting of the Ram Sita Swoyambar during the Bibaha Panchami festival and bid farewell marking the end of the festival.    

The people from different religious faiths such as Buddhism and Sikhs also come to observe the celebration while the Hindu religious leaders and devotees participate in the rituals in large numbers.   

During the festival, Ram and Sita are worshipped and homage is paid to the divine couple. 

Janakpur, the capital of Madhesh Province in Nepal, is believed to be the birthplace of Sita and the ancient Mithila's capital.