The Health Ministry says it has finalised a budget of Nu 5bn to start multidisciplinary hospital services. The services will mainly include kidney and heart transplant surgeries and advanced cancer treatment. The health minister says the services will be provided from the National Referral Hospital. The minister added that the fund has been managed from international donors and development partners.
Once the multidisciplinary hospital starts providing services, the country will no longer have to refer patients abroad for treatment.
Currently, the ministry spends about Nu 1bn annually for the referral and treatment of patients abroad.
According to the minister, it is mostly kidney patients that are referred outside, followed by cancer and heart patients.
“We faced a lot of challenges during the pandemic. Hospitals in foreign countries did not allow our patients to travel to their countries. We had no specialists here who could treat these patients,” said Health Minister Dechen Wangmo.
The minister also added that to build the competency of the country’s healthcare workers, the ministry will hire experts from abroad to train local doctors in heart and kidney transplant, and cancer treatment.
“We will have doctors from Raj Bedi Hospital come and train our doctors here. Through collaborations with their doctors, we will ensure that our doctors receive hands-on training and continuous guidance to build self-sufficient health specialists.”
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the initiative is not part of the five-year plans. It is also not certain as to when the hospital will be ready to provide services.
Namgay Dema
Edited by Phub Gyem
