Nuwakot, Belkotgadhi-2, 80-year-old Noor Prasad Neupane was found to be suffering from urinary incontinence. He went to Bir Hospital for a check-up in January. The doctors said that he needed to have a prostate operation, which would take time, so they put in a catheter (urinary tube) for the time being. The hospital has given him a date of Jestha due to the high demand for the surgery.

However, the family is worried about whether his surgery will be done on time. The government's decision to grant two days off a week (Saturday and Sunday) due to the global fuel crisis caused by the Gulf War has increased the pressure not only on the outpatient departments (OPDs) of government hospitals but also on other services. This has also led to further delays in scheduled surgeries. ‘I had heard that it would take at least a year to operate on a urinary tract problem,’ said Noor Prasad’s son Harisharan, ‘With the help of a neighbor, we got a date for the operation in Jestha.’ However, now I am worried that the two-day leave will push back the date we barely got.’

Citing the global fuel crisis caused by the Gulf War that has been going on since March 16, the government has decided to give two-day leave effective from Chaitra 23. After the government’s decision, government offices will be closed for two days a week and open for the remaining five days from 9 am to 5 pm. After the government’s latest decision, hospitals in the capital have not yet made public the new schedule for service delivery. However, doctors say that this decision will increase the pressure on surgeries in public hospitals and further inconvenience patients who have been waiting for a long time. ‘We are currently operating OPD services from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm daily,’ said Dilip Sharma, director of Veer Hospital, ‘The government’s two-day decision is yet to be implemented. We will decide whether to implement it soon.’ Dr. Sharma also admits that due to the pressure of patients in some departments of the hospital, it is already taking more than a year to get a surgery.

According to Veer officials, it takes at least three months for an MRI, three days for an ultrasound and one to two weeks for a CT scan. There is a very long wait for surgery. The officials say that it takes one year for a urinary surgery, two months for a neurosurgery and six months for a nose, ear, and throat surgery and even two to six months for other general surgeries.

‘If the decision to give two days of public holiday is implemented in big government hospitals including Bir, the suffering of patients will increase further,’ a doctor from Bir, requesting anonymity as he is not an authorized person to speak to the media, said, ‘Today (Thursday) we do not have an OPD service for urology. Come to the hospital on the day of the OPD, and you will clearly see how serious the problem here is.’

Maharanganj Teaching Hospital (Teaching), which has been providing outpatient services to about 4,000 patients daily, has decided to implement the government’s rule of giving two days off. There too, patients have to wait months for surgeries. The hospital administration has said that it will provide full-day service on Friday and add surgeries on other days so that patients do not suffer.

According to doctors, it is impossible to reduce the number of patients in big hospitals like Bir and Teaching overnight. They say that to reduce the pressure on these hospitals, arrangements should be made to conduct general surgeries in local-level health institutions. However, doctors suggest that the necessary skilled manpower and equipment should be provided in those health institutions. They say that due to the lack of that, patients are forced to travel to the capital for basic health services.

Jyoti Baniya, president of Consumer Rights Protection Forum-Nepal, says that patients have no choice but to spend a lot of money in private hospitals or have to endure pain for a long time. “Even if doctors do not take the patient’s condition seriously, they have to suffer more,” Baniya said. He also urged the government to reconsider the decision in the case of public hospitals, as the two-day holiday will be especially painful for poor patients. “Not all decisions are applicable everywhere,” he said. “Patients coming from outside the valley are forced to stay for a few more days for examination.” This will cause them even more problems.'