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Dr Keyoor Gautam, consultant pathologist and founder of Samyak Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd., is driven by his responsibility towards his patients. Samyak Diagnostics was established in 2014 with a motive to make lab visits as convenient as possible. The seed was perhaps planted in 2012 when Gautam served as the head of the Department of Pathology at Grande International Hospital and helped build their laboratory system. Gautam, who did his post graduation in India, says diagnostic centers are well managed there unlike in Nepal. “Not just India, but elsewhere too, labs are efficiently run,” he adds. He felt Nepal lacked proper labs that were efficient and affordable. And his position in Grande was just what he needed to turn his vision of an ideal lab into reality. “But it wasn’t an easy task,” he says, “One of the basics of a good lab is easy flow for staff as well as patients, and I knew nothing about construction to do that.” There were times where he felt he wasn’t ready for the challenge. But what helped him, he says, was a word of advice from a senior. “He asked me to picture everything in my head, starting with how people would enter and move about,” he says, and so he did. Gautam was able to establish one of the most efficient labs in Kathmandu at Grande, but he says that came at a cost. He was barely able to see his family. “I knew I was doing good, but at the same time, it felt like I was not giving enough time to my wife and son,” he adds. Working hard for two years at the same institution, Gautam was skeptical if he could ever get a break. And that was when the concept of Samyak Diagnostics came to him. “I thought maybe with my own lab it would be easier to maintain a work-life balance,” he says, “But it took me another two years to finally get there.” Being a newly established path lab, he needed to be there from opening to closing. During the first couple of years, Gautam was the one to open and lock the lab doors. “I felt I needed to be available for my patients as well as the staff,” he says. Now, Samyak Diagnostics is among the best diagnostics labs in the valley, being the first to have ISO 15189 accreditation, an international standard requirement for quality management systems in medical laboratories. Their popularity grew because of word of mouth. People who visit the lab once recommend it to their family and friends. One of the reasons for that is the excellent service they provide. The staff are friendly and put you at ease from the moment you enter. They also ensure no one has to wait for more than five minutes. You also get informed when your lab results are ready, via SMS and email, saving you the hassle of having to check online or call to ask. Surprisingly, the place is affordable, and some tests are even cheaper than other hospitals and clinics, with special discounts for doctors, those in uniform, and some concessions for everybody else. Also, unlike at other labs, doctors are available for consultation in case patients want to discuss or understand their lab results. When asked how he manages to ensure such a friendly environment at the lab, Gautam says it’s because the employees are happy and content. His employees are his extended family and he says he will do whatever it takes to ensure the workplace is safe for them. “That is one of the reasons why I never started doing Covid-19 tests during the pandemic,” he says. Many people told him to provide covid testing, they told him it was a great opportunity to make a lot of money. But money, though an important aspect of business, has never been the basis of his decisions. Gautam mentions he didn’t want his patients to be scared to visit the lab during the pandemic and neglect their medical routine checkups. Being a stickler for discipline and hard work, Gautam reaches office at 7:00 in the morning and he is there till 4:00 pm. He even pops by for a little while on Saturday, which is his day off. He does this because unless he checks in on his team he feels something is amiss. “The hard work I put in ensures a good night’s sleep. I can sleep well when I know everything is running smoothly,” he says. The ISO 15189 accreditation helps put his mind at ease. There is a system that holds him and his team accountable, leaving absolutely no room for error. “One slip-up and the entire place will be shut down,” he says, adding sometimes things do go wrong, despite their best interests. But there is a system there too to ensure it is rectified. “To err is human but you have to own up to your mistake and correct it. That is what’s important,” he says. Samyak has sample collection centers at Baneshwor and Budhanilkantha. There is also the provision for home collection. It was started after much research on how long a test sample can be stored outside the lab. “While introducing new things, we don’t want to compromise on the service we provide,” he adds. Earlier there were many lab tests that couldn’t be done in Nepal. Samyak changed that. Many labs have followed in its footsteps and, as long as the competition is healthy, Gautam is happy that pathology as a field is evolving and becoming better. Having assisted in establishing quality path labs at Nepal Police Hospital in Panipokhari and the National Public Health Laboratory, Gautam believes good, reliable healthcare is everybody’s right, and he is working relentlessly towards making that happen. Gautam has also consulted for various government projects to establish labs in different parts of the country. It was under his guidance and expertise that the government managed to start six labs in Rukkum where healthcare facilities were limited to a bare minimum. As important as work is for him, Gautam realizes the need to spend time with his family, especially his son. It is what recharges him and makes him happy. He also enjoys sports. These days, he is into tennis, he says. He also hopes to retire when he is 50. “I want to learn Sanskrit after that. You have to invest in yourself too,” he says.

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has planned to develop the Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line Project by avoiding Langtang National Park to a large extent as it fears backlash from environmental lobbies for constructing energy infrastructure inside the national park. Though NEA conducted the feasibility of the 400kV cross-border transmission line connecting Nepal and China by maintaining alignment through the national park and also by mostly avoiding the national park, it plans to avoid the option of maintaining alignment inside the national park despite that options appearing cheaper. On Monday, the Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line Project called for written suggestions from stakeholders about the impact the project could have in the areas of nature and physical infrastructure, biodiversity, social and cultural heritages, and the economic system of the area. The suggestions were sought as a part of the conducting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project under which 208 towers will be built. “The suggestions from the stakeholders were sought for the proposed alignment of the project which avoids the national park to a large extent,” said a senior NEA official under the condition of anonymity. According to the notice issued by the project, only 4.5km of the alignment will fall inside the national park. “Alternative alignment covers as much as 24km of the national park which we deliberately avoided,” the official said. The feasibility study shows that around Rs10 billion would be required to build this project while avoiding the alignment inside the national park. In the notice, feedback has been sought from local government, schools, hospitals, health posts, and other stakeholder institutions and individuals within seven days as part of identifying the study area (scoping) for the EIA. Possible districts to be affected by the project include Rasuwa and Nuwakot, according to the notice. The local governments potentially to be affected by the projects include rural municipalities including Gosaikunda, Amachhodingmo (Parbatikunda) and Uttargaya and Kishpang. Likewise, Bidur Municipality, Tarkeshwar Rural Municipality and Belkotgadi Municipality are likely to be affected, according to the project. According to Komal Nath Atreya, chief of the transmission line project, they will start working on the construction modality of the transmission line after finalizing EIA. NEA Engineering Company, a subsidiary company of NEA, is taking charge of the EIA of the project. Officials said the 70km project which can carry 5,000MW of electricity would open the door for power trade between Nepal and China. Currently, Nepal only has a single outside market i.e., India to sell its electricity and buy from. India has allowed Nepal to sell a maximum 408MW of electricity from eight hydropower projects. Nepal has also been buying power from India during the dry season, particularly after December when domestic power production slumps. The 400 kV transmission line from Ratamate (Nepal) to Kerung (China) will lead to Nepal- China power trading in the years to come, according to NEA. “As India does not buy electricity generated by projects where Chinese investors and contractors are involved, this project will be vital for attracting Chinese investment with the objective of selling power to China,” said the NEA official. “The project has been important even for domestic transmission of power as there are several power projects along the Trishuli corridor.” There is not a single 400KV transmission line for the transmission of power domestically in the country currently. Nepal and China have signed a cooperation agreement regarding the construction of this transmission project which was extended by two years when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Nepal in March this year, according to the NEA. But it is taking time for both sides to carry out additional negotiations between the two sides to develop this project. A Joint Technical Group representing officials of the Nepal Electricity Authority and State Grid Corporation of China held two rounds of talks in China and Nepal regarding the development of the project before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The last meeting was held in March 2020 when officials of State Grid Corporation of China visited Nepal before Nepal imposed the first lockdown in March that year. There was a plan to observe the site of an electricity facility including a substation in China’s Kerung. “We were planning to organize the Nepal side to China along with the relaxation of Covid-19 rules in China,” the NEA official said. But the pandemic once again is now spreading in China which will force the Nepali delegation to spend time in Chinese quarantine for days. “We are now planning to request the Chinese side to visit Nepal potentially in February to hold the next round of talks,” the official said.

The Nepal Police Headquarters, Naxal has recommended the Home Ministry to suspend DSP Thug Bahadur KC of the Area Police Office, Butwal. KC was arrested after he was accused of taking the gold of a trader of Butwal under control and keeping it himself. A team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) apprehended KC from his residence on Sunday. Police said that they recovered 35 tola gold and Rs 2.5 million in cash from his possession.  

Biratnagar Metropolitan City Mayor Nagesh Koirala has underscored the need of coordination among all the three tiers of the government for prevention and control of human trafficking. Addressing an interaction organized by Maiti Nepal Morang at the metropolis' auditorium today, Mayor Koirala said that the human trafficking can be stopped through the collective initiatives of the governmental and non-governmental organisations, together with the three tiers of the government. He also stressed on the need for coordination among the organizations working in the women and children's sector. Officiating Chief District Officer of Morang Sharad Pokharel said that prevention and control of human trafficking has become challenging due to the open border. Coordinator of Maiti Nepal, Morang, Binod Pokharel, presented a report about the situation of January to December 2022. During the period, 136 people were saved from being trafficked, he said. Coordinator Pokharel added that out of 47 people, who were lost during the period, only 11 were found. Similarly, a person was rescued and a case was filed against a person for his/her connection to human trafficking during the period. A total of 105 cases of domestic violence were recorded, he mentioned. Chief Administrative Officer of the Metropolis, Bishnu Prasad Koirala, Deputy-Chief of the District Coordination Committee, Morang, Usha Jha, Morang Police Chief, Shanti Raj Koirala, among others expressed their views on the occasion.