Sudma Devi of Jaleshwor Municipality-2 is unable to get treatment due to financial constraints. Suffering from back problems, Sudma is unable to walk or sit up. Unable to see her writhing in pain at home, her daughter-in-law Santoshi Devi brought her to the Jaleshwor Provincial Hospital for treatment on Friday. The hospital doctors suggested that she get an X-ray immediately.

Sudama, who had come to a government hospital to get all the facilities of a doctor and other tests in one place, was sent outside for an X-ray, but she returned home without receiving treatment.

This is just one example of the problems faced by service recipients and patients when the modern digital X-ray machine at Jaleshwor Provincial Hospital broke down. In the last decade, a huge budget has been spent here every year on purchasing expensive equipment along with large buildings. But it has not been put into use. Despite spending a huge amount on the construction, maintenance and purchase of equipment of the hospital, there has been no improvement in the hospital's services.

The X-ray machine at the provincial hospital has been broken and has been stalled for a long time. The hospital staff has been recommending that an X-ray be done outside.

The repair of the X-ray machine that came from China has been delayed due to the delay in ordering materials from there, said Medical Superintendent (MESU) of Jaleshwor Hospital Bikash Sah. _{The broken X-ray machine of the Jaleshwor Provincial Hospital  .}

ICU, dialysis equipment are lying in the warehouse . Due to lack of manpower and lack of upgrades in the hospital, the equipment purchased for ICU, ventilator, dialysis, and N ICU in the 15-bed provincial hospital  has not been used due to lack of manpower. The monitor installed in the hospital bed has not been used .

The employees of the Ministry of Health of Madhesh Province have been purchasing expensive equipment for commission and handing it over to the Jaleshwor Provincial Hospital . Equipment that the hospital did not even demand has been piled up here . No effort has been made to use and operate the equipment . The service of the provincial hospital is getting weaker day by day . Due to government apathy and political wrangling, the provincial hospital has become a referral hospital .

The intensive care equipment received from the provincial government during the Covid pandemic has not yet been put into use. The intensive care unit (ICU) service is ready after the equipment was installed on the second floor of the provincial hospital, Jaleshwor. The hospital has an ICU. But the hospital administration has not been able to recruit the manpower to operate it, so the ICU is locked. The equipment is dusty.

The equipment came to the hospital from the province, but due to the lack of manpower, the ICU and ventilators have not been used and are broken, Mesu Sah said. The equipment has become unused when the Health Supply Department under the Madhesh Province Ministry of Health handed over the equipment to the hospital without doctors and nursing staff. Five ventilators, bed sets, monitors, echo and ICU sets are unused. _{A monitor lying unused in a ward of the provincial hospital, Jaleshwor. Photos: Santosh Singh}

The dialysis machine provided by the province to the hospital has also broken down and is not operational. The hospital administration has stated that the state-of-the-art dialysis machine was purchased and brought to the hospital but was not used. The dialysis machine, which was purchased two years ago, broke down before it was installed. The hospital's Mesu Sah said that the machine had been idle for a long time without repair and testing.

When the machine was tried to be operated by connecting it to tap water, the pump broke down and it could not be operated due to the lack of manpower for dialysis. The hospital administration has stated that the dialysis service could not be started due to lack of manpower and broken down machines. As the dialysis service of Jaleshwor Provincial Hospital is not operational, kidney patients are forced to go to private hospitals in Janakpur and India.

The provincial government spends budget to purchase and send equipment to the hospital, build physical infrastructure, but does not send budget to improve services, operate equipment, and repair it, alleging that there is a problem in running the hospital. There is equipment for 100 beds in the speech, but in practice, how can it be possible with a manpower of 15 beds?,' Mesu Sah said, 'The government that provides equipment does not provide the manpower to run it. Due to lack of coordination to run the hospital, 7 mesu have changed in 2 years.' He also said that there is a problem every day as the provincial government does not send medicines on time.

Although the name is provincial hospital, the hospital does not even have medicines that are usually available free of charge at health posts. Although the government has announced to provide 98 types of medicines free of charge, service recipients in this hospital receive only 24 types of medicines. There is also a shortage of medicines in the hospital as the provincial government's health directorate does not send medicines.

The shutters rented in front of Jaleshwar Provincial Hospital are operating illegally. The hospital does not have any records of who rented the shutters built in the hospital and when. Various private shops and clinics are currently operating in the shutters built in the name of the hospital. Although the Government of Nepal has clearly prohibited the operation of private clinics, drug stores or liquor shops within the hospital premises, all of them are being operated at Jaleshwor Provincial Hospital. Mesu Sah of the provincial hospital said that locals obstructed the efforts to stop and organize the operation.