Rapti Provincial Hospital in Tulsipur, Dang, has been without a CT scan for two years and still has no intensive care unit (ICU), leaving serious patients to be referred outside the district. Medical Superintendent Dr. Mohammad Nurul Hoda says the long-standing gaps have damaged the hospital’s public image, with the facility often mocked as a referral center rather than a place where patients can receive the services they need. The hospital’s CT scan service has remained unavailable since the scanner broke down, according to reports.
Two key services unavailable
The CT scan has been out of service for two years, while the hospital also lacks an ICU. These are separate gaps in the hospital’s services, but both contribute to the same outcome: patients requiring care beyond what the hospital can provide must be sent elsewhere. The hospital’s inability to offer the two services has made it harder for the institution to manage serious cases within its own facility.
The scanner’s prolonged shutdown has left patients and staff without CT scan services at the provincial hospital. The available reports describe the machine as having broken down and not been repaired. No information in the reports provided indicates when the service might resume. The two-year period without the scanner has turned a temporary equipment failure into a long-running service problem for the hospital and the people who depend on it.
The absence of an ICU adds to the pressure created by the unavailable scan service. Serious patients who need treatment the hospital cannot provide are referred outside Dang. As a result, the hospital’s role in caring for those cases is limited, and patients must continue their treatment beyond the district. The reports do not provide figures for how many patients have been referred or identify the facilities receiving them.
Referrals shape the hospital’s reputation
Dr. Hoda said the hospital is often mocked as a “referral center” because patients are repeatedly sent elsewhere. His remark reflects the reputational effect of the service gaps: instead of being associated with care available locally, the hospital is criticized for referring cases out. The superintendent said the lack of ICU and CT scan services has negatively affected public perception of the institution.
That perception is closely tied to the hospital’s limited ability to respond to serious cases under its current service conditions. When patients need care that depends on services the hospital does not have, referral becomes necessary. The ongoing absence of the scanner and ICU therefore affects more than the hospital’s list of available services. It also affects how patients and the public view the hospital’s capacity to care for them.
A prolonged gap in provincial hospital care
The two-year interruption to CT scanning and the continued absence of an ICU leave Rapti Provincial Hospital without two services identified in reports as important gaps in its care. The immediate consequence described by the hospital’s medical superintendent is continued referral of serious patients outside the district. The longer-term concern evident in his comments is the erosion of public confidence, as the hospital’s repeated referrals have become a source of ridicule.
For residents seeking care at the Tulsipur hospital, the available reports offer no timeline for restoring CT scan services or establishing an ICU. They also do not provide details about plans to repair or replace the scanner. What is clear is that the CT scan has been unavailable for two years, the hospital has no ICU, and serious patients continue to be referred beyond Dang. Until these service gaps are addressed, the hospital is likely to remain associated with the referrals that Dr. Hoda says have undermined its reputation.
