Indian patients thronging Rautahat eye hospital

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT, Rautahat, Dec. 29: An increasing number of Indian eye patients are visiting an eye hospital, near the Nepal-India border, in Rautahat district. Many flock to the hospital to get cheap and quality services.

About half a dozen eye hospitals are in operation in Gaur Municipality, the border area of ​​the district. Of them, the number of Indian eye patients is high in the Gaur Eye Hospital of the municipality. 

Sheikh Ahmed, 65, who came to the hospital from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, said, "I heard that eye treatment is cheap and good at the hospital. I have come to Nepal all the way from India to treat my cataract problem.”

Pawan Neupane, an employee of the hospital, said that the hospital, which has been treating eye patients by conducting eye camps at various places in the district, now has more Indian patients than Nepali ones. According to the data of the hospital, people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh make up the majority of the patients in the hospital.  

Since the cost of eye surgery in Nepali hospitals is three times less than those in the Indian hospitals, lower- and middle-class Indians come here, said Neupane.  According to him, the lens is placed in the eye through the 'FECO' method. Depending on the quality, lenses costing Rs.3,840 to Rs.16,240 are placed in the patients’ eyes. 

The hospital has extended its services to Chandranigahapur, Bankul and Garuda Bazaar in the district. Dr. Prajwal Basnet, medical director of the hospital, said that after the onset of winter, the pressure of Indian eye patients would be high. 

"Currently, an average of 300 Indian patients are receiving treatment at the hospital on a daily basis.  We have received positive feedback from the patients as they are satisfied with the treatment here," said Dr. Basnet.