KATHMANDU, June 10: Health and Population Minister Pradip Paudel has initiated preparations to add more than 2,000 health personnel to federal hospitals.
Health personnel have not been increased for a long time despite the high flow of patients. Minister Paudel has moved forward with the process in agreement with the Ministry of Finance to increase the health workforce.
For this, an internal task force led by Secretary Rishi Acharya was formed, which submitted an organizational and management survey report recommending the addition of 2,102 personnel. The report indicates that the number of technical health staff to be added at the hospital level is significant.
The organizational structure prepared for this five-year plan includes the addition of 777 personnel at the country’s largest hospital, Bir Hospital. This will allow the trauma center within Bir Hospital, which handles the highest patient load in the country, to add 90 more staff members.
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At Kanti Children's Hospital, also located in the federal capital Kathmandu, the report recommends adding 78 personnel. The Paropakar Maternity & Women's Hospital is set to receive 173 additional staff members. Similarly, Sukraraj Tropical & Infectious Disease Hospital will add 317 health personnel.
At Koshi Hospital, 172 personnel will be added; Narayani Hospital will receive 318 new staff members, and Bheri Hospital will add 179 personnel.
At Gajendra Memorial Hospital in Rajbiraj, 144 personnel will be added, while Bharatpur Hospital in Chitwan will receive 465 new staff members.
Dadeldhura hospital will have 52 additional personnel, and the Department of Drug Administration and Laboratories will add 40 staff members as part of the organizational structure.
Receiving the report, Minister Paudel expressed confidence that although there has been a heavy patient load in government health institutions, the difficulty in providing services due to the long delay in increasing personnel will be somewhat eased.
He said, “I expect this report to make an important contribution to managing human resources in government hospitals. It will be implemented with necessary coordination among the concerned ministries.”
Minister Paudel also expressed hope that since surveys will be conducted every year—not just this year—the long-term issue of personnel shortages will be addressed effectively.
After Minister Paudel instructed to structure the organization to address the shortage of maximum health technical personnel, the report was prepared to add most of the health workforce. This is expected to help reduce the number of temporary and contract positions in various hospitals and support achieving permanent staffing.
Although some personnel were added in 2066 BS, a detailed organizational and management survey had not been conducted since then. The implementation of this report is expected to help fill vacant positions, cope with increasing patient loads, and also create employment opportunities.
