Monday's cabinet meeting approved the use of land registered in the name of the Sericulture Development Program in Dhankuta Municipality-7 for the construction of a provincial hospital.
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After a long period of confusion, the acquisition of land for the construction of a provincial hospital in Dhankuta has been finalized. Monday's cabinet meeting approved the use of land registered in the name of the Sericulture Development Program in Dhankuta Municipality-7 for the construction of a provincial hospital.
Government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Jagadish Kharel informed that 25 ropani 5 annas 3 paisa of land has been provided. Although there has been talk of upgrading Dhankuta Hospital to a 100-bed capacity for a long time, the process of acquiring the necessary land for that has yet to be completed.
After the approval of the Council of Ministers, the dispute over land swapping between the Municipal Development Committee and the Sericulture Development Program has ended. Without acquiring ownership of the land, a five-story, well-equipped hospital building is being constructed at the site in the name of the provincial hospital at a cost of Rs 258 million. Niren Tamang, head of the District Coordination Committee Dhankuta and chairman of the Dhankuta Hospital Development Committee, informed that 40 percent of the construction work has been completed.
Tamang said that since ownership has been acquired, it has become easier to speed up the construction work. The Koshi Province government had decided to upgrade the 15-bed Dhankuta Hospital to a 100-bed capacity in 2078 BS. Tamang says that the Koshi Province government has already given approval for the operation of the provincial teaching hospital in Asoj and now the ownership of the land has been acquired, so the path to operating the provincial teaching hospital is open.
‘There is a minimum requirement for a hospital with a capacity of one hundred beds to operate a teaching hospital. We have already received approval from the Koshi Province government to operate the hospital, and now it has become easier since we have acquired the ownership of the land,’ he said. ‘We will start the necessary process of operating the education of HA and staff nurses within some time. As soon as the ONM work is completed, the hospital will be operational with a capacity of one hundred beds.’ Currently, Dhankuta Hospital is operating with a capacity of 15 beds.
