Surgical services at Salyan District Hospital have been suspended since July 18, 2026 due to a shortage of specialist doctors. Following the suspension, patients referred to the district hospital from health institutions across various municipalities have been forced to seek treatment in Nepalgunj, Surkhet, and Dang.
The service was halted after Dr. Rahish Koju, an MDGP specialist Doctor, and Medical Officer Dr. Suman Yadav, who had been deputed by the Nim Simon Institute (NSI) for two months during Mid-May – Mid-July, returned after completion of their tenure. Under its Safe Motherhood Program, NSI had been providing specialist doctors to the district hospital for the past decade. Their support enabled the district hospital to perform cesarean sections and other surgeries for pregnant women with complications, along with other surgical procedures. More recently, after Dr. Koju and Dr. Yadav joined, the hospital had also been performing surgeries for appendicitis, hernia, hydrocele, and orthopedic fractures.
The suspension of surgical services has directly impacted patients. Specifically, families of pregnant women with complicated pregnancies are now facing additional burden since they are required to be take outside the district for treatment, placing an additional financial burden on them.
Purnima Budha resident of Kalimati Rural Municipality – 1 said that while taking her 25-year-old daughter-in-law, Nirmala Budha, to the district hospital for surgery, they had to return back midway and travel instead to the Provincial Hospital in Tulsipur.
She said that aambulance charges to the district hospital would normally cost only NPR 1,000, whereas transporting her daughter-in-law to Tulsipur costs her around NPR 8,000.
Similarly, Pimlal Nepali a resident of Bangad Kupinde Municipality – 9 said he is struggling to make arrangements for money required to take his 10-year-old son to Nepalgunj or Surkhet for hydrocele surgery.
According to Dr. Arjun Budhamagar, Chief of the Salyan Health Service Office, the NSI program at Salyan District Hospital ended in the month of Mid June-Mid July, and with the completion of the two-months tenure of Dr. Koju and Dr. Yadav, both doctors returned from the hospital. As a result, the hospital was left without specialist doctors due to which there is now suspension of surgical services.
He said that although requests have been made to both the Karnali Provincial Government and the Federal Government to send specialist doctors, there does not appear to be an immediate possibility of receiving replacements which may leave the future of the surgical service uncertain.
According to him, since the suspension of surgical services, three patients have already been referred to other hospitals. Patients referred from health facilities across different municipalities from the district are now having to Nepalgunj, Surkhet, and Dang for treatment.
On average, at the district hospital surgery each month surgery is performed on 10 to 12 women with complicated pregnancies. Dr. Budhamagar said that in the past month alone, the hospital has carried out surgeries on six patients with issues related to hernia, appendicitis, orthopedic injuries, and hydrocele.
Established in 1987/88 AD as a 15-bed district hospital, Salyan District Hospital currently operates with a capacity of 40 beds. The hospital receives up to 150 patients daily for treatment.