The hospital has 109 permanent positions, 313 temporary positions, and 45 from the development committee. However, there are large vacancies in other positions apart from the development committee.
What you should know
Dadeldhura Hospital, under the federal government in the Far West Province, has been facing criticism for its shortage of doctors, damaged equipment, and poor administrative coordination. The hospital is unable to provide effective services due to a shortage of manpower as per the quota.
On the one hand, this hospital, known as a federal level hospital, is responsible for treating thousands of patients from the seven hilly districts of the province, while on the other hand, the hospital is forced to 'refer' patients.
Due to the shortage of doctors, patients are not able to get quality treatment at Dadeldhura Hospital under the federal government. As this hospital, which is a referral hospital for the Far West province, does not have a specialist doctor as per the quota, the hospital is also referring general patients.
Around 300 patients visit the OPD daily in this hospital, which is operated under the federal government of the Far West. However, patients are forced to go to hospitals including Dhangadhi for even general health check-ups.
The hospital currently has a capacity of 19 specialist doctors. However, there is a shortage of 18 of them. Currently, only one specialist doctor is working in the hospital, and there are not enough medical officer-level doctors. Patients are not able to get quality treatment services in the hospital. The hospital has been facing difficulties in getting treatment due to the shortage of doctors as per the hospital's quota. The hospital also refers general patients, which has led to suffering for the patients.
Acting Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Narendra Kumar Khanal, says that it is natural for service recipients to complain about the lack of specialist doctors. He says, "We have many vacancies, but there are no vacancies. Since there are no specialists in pediatrics, skin and venereal diseases, and ear, nose and throat diseases, we have to refer patients except for general treatment cases." Acting Mesu Khanal of the hospital says that due to the lack of specialist and medical officer-level doctors in the hospital, some patients have to be referred. According to him, some patients have to be sent to other hospitals due to the shortage of doctors.
Ram Bahadur Sarki of Amargadhi Municipality-10 had returned home from abroad during the festival. His 70-year-old father was immediately taken to the hospital after he fell and was injured. However, he said that the doctor suggested that he go to Dhangadhi saying that there was no treatment here. ‘It is sad that there is no basic treatment in the referral hospital. There are more problems than patients in the hospital,’ he expressed his sorrow.
Janaki Bhatta of Alital Rural Municipality-2 had reached the hospital with a leg pain. The doctor gave her basic medicine and sent her home. ‘We are poor people from the village,’ she said, ‘we came here because we could not go to Dhangadhi.’ But instead, we were advised to go to Dhangadhi from here.’
Patients have been suffering due to the frequent breakdown of the hospital’s X-ray machine. It has also been difficult to conduct basic health check-ups in this hospital, which receives hundreds of patients daily. Dr. Khanal said that the old machine is frequently breaking down, affecting the service. He said that since there are no skilled technicians in Dadeldhura for repairs, the service is sometimes disrupted. He also said that the service is disrupted when some equipment breaks down. He said that the service is disrupted for a long time due to the lack of skilled technicians to repair the broken machines.
The hospital is currently in the process of purchasing a new X-ray machine as the service recipients are suffering due to repeated problems with the X-ray equipment and plans to bring it into operation within the next month. But now, general tests are being conducted using the same machine, said Dr. Khanal.
The CT scan machine, which had been idle for a long time, is now operational. Until last year, due to the lack of a radiologist doctor, it was forced to send the CT scan report to Chitwan. Since the report took weeks to come, there was a problem of increasing the risk in the treatment of emergency patients. But now, with the availability of a radiologist doctor, the CT scan service has improved. However, sometimes due to technical problems, the CT scan service still has to be temporarily stopped.
‘In the past, due to the lack of radiologists, we had to do CT scans here and send the reports to Chitwan via email. Due to which the reports would be delayed,’ said Dr. Khanal, ‘Now, since radiologists are available, we are providing all services from here.’ He admitted that sometimes there are problems in the service impact due to technical problems.
While locals are criticizing the hospital management, Hospital Development Committee Chairman Karunakar Ojha said that only negative comments are increasing towards the hospital. He said that everyone should get information about the services being provided by the hospital instead of just complaining.
The hospital has 109 permanent posts, 313 temporary posts and 45 from the development committee. But apart from the development committee, there are large vacancies in other posts. Although there are 133 posts for government contracts, only 44 are working. Similarly, 21 employees have gone elsewhere for work. The hospital administration has stated that it has taken the complaints of patients as an opportunity for improvement. Dadeldhura Hospital is the main destination for patients from the seven hilly districts of the Far West. Patients from Dadeldhura, Bajhang, Bajura, Baitadi, Darchula, Achham and Doti come to this hospital for treatment.
