April 5, 2013 –
The Megh Bahadur Parajuli Community Hospital, opened by Himalayan Health Care (HHC)—a non profit organisation—in 2004, is the only community hospital in Ilam. The hospital introduced a new approach to healthcare in the district, standing as an example of sustainability in community hospitals in the few first years of its establishment. This fair state of affairs was not to be maintained in years to come. Things began to change after the establishment of the Dr Megh Bahadur Parajuli Community Hospital Management Committee in 2008. Once it was formed, local politicians began demanding what they called their own share, and most of them got into the elected committee. Their interests thereafter, were concerned more with gaining political support and maintaining their positions in the committee than with actually managing the hospital. And this, sources say, has resulted in the apparent failure of the hospital. The Post’s Manish Gautam talked to members of the MIT Sloan MBA team who visited the hospital last month to assess and recommend ways in which the HHC might find a way to turn around the current state of affairs.