Indians reap benefits from Nepal healthcare services

ASHISH PRADHAN, SNS, BIRTAMOD, 13 MARCH 21: As Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli officially inaugurated the Purbanchal Cancer Hospital at the neighbouring town of Birtamod in Jhapa district in East Nepal last week, officials and doctors at the hospital expressed happiness at the way they had been providing low-cost state-of-the-art facilities to cancer patients not only to Nepalis, but Indians living in the bordering areas.

It is learnt that over 20 cancer patients from areas in India like Siliguri, Naxalbari, Matigara and even from the Himalayan state of Sikkim are presently undergoing treatment in the 100 bed hospital that has been opened in the existing B&C Teaching Hospital that has been providing medical services to people in the region for the past around eight years.

Even as PM Oli welcomed people from neighbouring countries, especially India, to reap benefits from his country's healthcare services, which, he said were "way cheaper" than any other place in the entire South Asian region, doctors at the Purbanchal Cancer Hospital confirmed how even people from neighbouring areas in India had been flocking to the hospital for treatment.

"It is a complete cancer care hospital. Patients once here may not go anywhere else, given the advanced equipment, services expert team of doctors we have here, which are one of the best in South Asia," the Medical Director of the cancer hospital and senior Oncologist, Dr Birendra Yadav told this correspondent.

According to Radiologist Dr Umesh Kumar Sharma, patients at the hospital will spend at least 50 percent lesser than what they would spend elsewhere for the same facilities.

Executive Director of the B&C Hospital, Durga Prasain, who took the initiative to establish the hospital and the cancer treatment wing, said the Mechi Anchal (Zone) that shares its borders with West Bengal, Bihar and Sikkim will be known in the South Asian region as a "medical hub" in a few years from now.

"The Zone will be known not only for tea, ginger and cardamom, but will make strides in the medical tourism sector too," Mr Prasain, himself a cancer survivor, said.

Mentioning that medical services in Nepal were "way cheaper" than other places in South Asia, PM Oli said: "People from Nepal and other countries can come here for medical treatment. They may not go elsewhere now. I can vouch for the quality and low cost of medical services that we provide in Nepal now."