Manipal hospital under fresh attack in Nepal

By Sudeshna Sarkar, Kathmandu, Nov 5 : The Manipal Teaching Hospital, run by India's Manipal Group as a joint venture with the Nepal government, has come under fresh attack from locals, causing its outdoor unit for patients to be closed indefinitely.

The 700-bed hospital in Pokhara, established in 1998 under the Manipal College of Medical Sciences, has shut down its outdoor services after two of its doctors were assaulted Tuesday over the death of a patient and local groups began demanding compensation.

This is the third time this year that the hospital, which is one of the biggest hospitals in western Nepal, has been forced to suspend services after threats to its staff and being pressured to meet various demands.

The new fracas started Tuesday when a patient was brought to the outdoor patients' department (OPD) with complaints of chest pain.

Hospital authorities say that Tilak Khanal was attended to by a medical specialist who asked him to undergo tests like ECG.

Khanal returned to the emergency services the same day, complaining of growing chest pains when he was given injections.

However, he collapsed while going to the toilet and could not be revived.

"It was a sudden death," said B.M. Nagpal, dean at the hospital.

"Like with all sudden deaths, we are demanding that the usual procedure be followed. First there should be a post-mortem followed by an inquiry.

"If it is found that the hospital is guilty of negligence, we will take action against the negligent staff."

Soon after Khanal's death, his relatives, accompanied by locals, stormed the hospital and roughed up the two doctors on emergency duty.

Then they started pressuring the authorities for compensation, as well as a job at the hospital for Khanal's wife and free education for his children.

In protest, the doctors of the hospital have stopped OPD services since then.

Though the hospital tried to hold talks with the protesters, the attempt failed.

Police and the chief district officer (CDO) or his representative have to attend the talks. However, with the opposition Maoist party Wednesday beginning a picket of CDO offices nationwide, the CDO could not attend the talks.

Nagpal said while the hospital was ready to hold talks, it was also clear about its stand.

"There is no question of paying compensation," he said. "There has to be an inquiry first."

In February, unions affiliated to the two largest parties, the Maoists and Nepali Congress, caused disruption in hospital services demanding a hike in pay in violation of the agreement they had signed with the hospital.

In June, locals roughed up staff after a teenager, who had taken pesticide following a tiff with her boyfriend, vanished from the emergency wing but later reappeared in another wing of the hospital.

"It is not Manipal's problem alone," Nagpal said. "Hospitals all over Nepal are coming under such attack."

Last month, the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, the largest hospital in eastern Nepal as well as the biggest aid project by India in the Himalayan republic, was plunged into a crisis after junior doctors resigned en masse following security threats.

--IANS