MUSTANG: A five-bed basic hospital building constructed in Lomanthang Rural Municipality of Upper Mustang has remained unused for the past year due to a lack of manpower and medical equipment.
The 27-room hospital building, constructed with the aim of providing accessible healthcare services with specialist doctors to residents of the Nepal-China border region, has yet to come into operation.
According to local officials, the two-storey hospital building located at Dhurang in Lomanthang-4 was completed a year ago but remains idle because the necessary health workers, equipment, and infrastructure have not been arranged.
The facility was built under the federal government’s Integrated Health Infrastructure Development Programme with cost-sharing support from Lomanthang Rural Municipality.
Construction of the hospital began in the fiscal year 2078/79 BS and was completed last year. Although the project had a two-year contract period, the work was delayed by about a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospital, constructed at a cost of Rs 71.9 million, is located about half an hour from Lomanthang market. The facility includes accommodation for doctors and health workers, as well as a surgery room, X-ray room, laboratory, delivery room, and pharmacy, and was intended to provide services with specialist doctors.
Upper Mustang currently has only health posts and small health units providing basic services. Due to the lack of specialized healthcare, residents are often forced to travel around 100 kilometers to Jomsom for treatment. In many cases, patients must travel further to Pokhara or Kathmandu for reliable medical care.
Health Coordinator of Lomanthang Rural Municipality, Tenzing Narbu Gurung, said the hospital has not been brought into operation due to the absence of necessary medical staff, equipment, and supporting infrastructure. He noted that the hospital could begin functioning if the government arranged doctors, human resources, and essential medical equipment.
Gurung said that during a recent visit to Upper Mustang, the Gandaki Province Health Minister had instructed the local government to submit a cost estimate and details for purchasing the required equipment. The rural municipality has since sent the necessary documents to the provincial government seeking approval to procure health equipment worth about Rs 1.5 million.
“We have already sent the cost estimates and details to the provincial government to procure equipment for the hospital,” Gurung said. “However, after the events of late Bhadra, we have not received any update on the progress.”
According to Gurung, the proposal will move forward once it is approved by the Gandaki Provincial Council of Ministers.
Although the building is currently being used to provide limited services by temporarily relocating a health post, Gurung said the facility is less accessible to residents because it is located some distance from Lomanthang market.
He stressed that the attention of both federal and provincial governments is necessary to bring the hospital into operation so that reliable healthcare services can be provided to residents and tourists visiting Upper Mustang.
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