By Ajita Rijal

Kathmandu, Jan. 24: When Shishir Gautam of Ghorahi, Dang reached Kanti Children’s Hospital on Thursday with his son suffering from severe stomach pain, the doctor told him that the child had stone and needed an operation soon. He was at his wit’s end when he was told that he needed to wait for more than six months for the operation at the hospital.
“The doctor, who referred to the nearest child hospital, said that he himself would operate on my child,” said Gautam. “I have no option but to visit the private hospital as I can’t see my child in pain.”
Santosh Mandal of Bara district waited for nine months for the operation of his two-and-a-half years old son suffering from imperforate anus.
“I had no option but to wait, as I cannot afford to pay the private hospitals,” said Mandal, whose son underwent surgery last Wednesday.
Like Gautam and Mandal, those who reach the hospital for treatment are compelled to wait or visit other private hospitals.
The hospital always remains overcrowded with patients from across the country. Those who cannot afford to pay higher fees to private hospitals are found waiting for a bed for months. 
The hospital, which is the apex specialized referral hospital for the sick new born and children up to 14 years old, has been witnessing a constant increase of patients with complication of diseases.
Upon visiting the hospital, a TRN Watch team found that a large number of patients’ attendants were standing in a serpentine queue at the ticket counter for the Out Patient Department (OPD). The token system has eased the patients for getting tickets. On average the hospital is examining around 500 cases daily from its OPD.
The emergency department, which has 22 beds, was found almost fully occupied by the patients. The emergency department sees around 150 cases on a daily basis, said a staff.
Most of the children having stomach problems, pneumonia, diarrhea, fainting cases were found visiting the emergency department of this hospital.
The surgical department has a capacity of 30 full functioning in-patient beds, six post-operative beds, seven dedicated intensive care beds, and dedicated burn in-patient beds and need basis in-patient beds.
The hospital is currently running its services with 33 consultant doctors, 39 medical officers and 84 staff nurses. These human resources are insufficient to run the only state-run children’s hospital in the nation, said Information Officer at the hospital Dr. Ramesh Nurshing KC.
“We have 52 ICU beds and necessary equipment but due to human resource crunch, only 32 ICU beds are in operation,” informed Dr. KC.
In most of the cases, the patients are asked to wait or in emergencies they are referred to the other hospitals due to the lack of ICU beds here, said Dr. KC.
Sanjay Chaudhary from Chitwan, whose premature baby was kept at the hospital for more than a month at ICU, said that the hospital lacked regular maintenance.
“During my stay for more than a month at this hospital, I was referred to TU Teaching Hospital for several lab tests citing that the lab here was not functioning,” he said.
According to the hospital records, the number of cancer patients has increased significantly. The oncology ward is running with 26-bed in-patient ward and eight-bed daycare centre with daily OPD service. During the past 12 months, a total of 141 new cases of pediatric cancer were diagnosed and more than 300 new cases were attended in Hematology OPD.
The only referral hospital lacks orthopedic department and it also

lacks doctors in cardio department, said Dr. KC, adding that they had started eye and ENT services from the OPD recently.
Cleanliness
The floors of the hospital weren’t wiped and the toilets not cleaned. When this scribe opened the door of a toilet, the public were found urinating outside the toilet pan. The pungent smell from the toilet reached far up to the waiting room.
The patients and their attendants got annoyed due to the unpleasant smell emanating from toilets. The floors were full of attendants. Most of the people were hanging and drying their clothes at the varanda and open spaces of the hospital. Though there are sufficient waiting rooms having beds for the attendants, they were seen unutilised. “Most of the attendants choose to sleep on the cold passage at the in-patient wards avoiding the waiting room,” said Dr. KC.
Pharmacy
The medicines at the hospitals pharmacy are the cheapest, said Dr. KC. But some of the shop owners were found acting as middlemen to compel the people to buy the medicines at their pharmacies asking them to give some discounts. Most of the patients’ attendants are unaware of the hospital pharmacy services, added KC.
On the positive note, the hospital is providing triage services from the emergency ward with five beds for red zone and nine beds for yellow zone. This ward is equipped with warmer, phototherapy, monitor, ECG machine, de-fibratior and a wall system oxygen.