A Two-Year Promise, a Five-Year Wait: Nepal’s Basic Hospitals Still Incomplete

To provide healthcare facilities in rural areas, the government in 2020 announced the construction of 657 basic hospitals. Although the buildings were supposed to be completed within two years, most remain incomplete even after five-and-a-half years, while construction has not even started on some. Even among the buildings that have been constructed, services are not running smoothly.

On March 1, 2025, then Health Minister Pradeep Paudel inaugurated a five-bed basic hospital building in Namluwa, Phalelung Rural Municipality of Panchthar. Residents were delighted, believing they would now receive medical treatment from doctors right in their village. However, even a year and a half after the inauguration, no doctor has been seen at the hospital.