Private building owners in Gelephu Thromde are worried about losing their tenants to the new NPPF residential colony for hospital staff. In the absence of enough health staff quarters, the majority of the health employees have been staying in privately rented apartments. The 150-unit residential colony is scheduled to complete in September this year.
Building owners who have health staff occupying their apartments are concerned about not getting occupants once the hospital staff move to the new staff colony.
“It will have an impact if the entire staff move from my building. I am not sure whether other people will come to stay on rent or not. I would have difficulty in repaying the loan,” said Madhan Oli, a building owner.
“In Gelephu, around 95 per cent of the buildings are occupied by the health staff. All the private buildings will be empty if all the health staff move to NPPF buildings. This raises concerns as to how are building owners going to repay their loan,” said Loknath Sharma, another building owner.
The Gelephu Central Regional Referral hospital has more than 300 health staff including doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff. Currently, only around 20 staff including doctors and nurses occupy the old hospital health quarters. And the rest have been staying in rented apartments with most residing far from the hospital.
“If the health staff reside near the hospital, we can attend to emergency patients immediately upon their arrival and can save lives. But if the health staff stay far away from the hospital then it will be difficult to attend to the patients on time,” said Tshering Penjor, a Dungtsho in the Gelephu Central Regional Hospital.
The new residential colony is located some 300 meters from the hospital. The colony will be prioritised for medical staff and health staff providing emergency services. The National Pension and Provident Fund is constructing the colony at a cost of Nu 113 M.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Sonam Pem
