In every policy, program and budget statement of the Fiscal Year 2073 BS, the federal government has not spared the program, "Establishment of a medical college in Surkhet under the concept of one state one government medical college."
Despite being included in the annual budget, no progress has been made so far in the construction of infrastructure of the medical college in Surkhet. The Council of Ministers had approved the Infrastructure Construction Development Project for the establishment of a medical college on March 15, 2008. Based on the decision of the Council of Ministers, the Surkhet Medical College Infrastructure Development Office was established in Birendranagar in May 2076 BS. However, the work of the project has not been able to pick up speed as the land identification has not been finalized yet.
Project Chief Hem Kumar Dhakal said that the process of construction of infrastructure could not move forward as the federal government could not reach a decision on the recommended land. According to him, the office had proposed two options for land identification. The first proposal was to establish and operate a medical college using the structure of the state hospital and the other was to take the land of Gageratal forest area in wards 11, 12 and 13 of Birendranagar municipality. He said that the project has not made any progress so far as the federal government has not taken a concrete decision on these two proposals.
Chief of the office Dhakal informed that the work of environmental impact assessment and the master plan of the proposed Gagretal forest area will be taken forward in the current fiscal year. "Environmental impact assessment and master plan will be prepared for the land in Gageratal forest area without any confusion in land identification," he said. The project falls under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The Ministry has allocated Rs. 50 million in the current Fiscal Year for preliminary works including Environmental Impact Assessment, Soil Testing and Detailed Project Report (DPR). The Ministry of Forest and Environment has already agreed to complete the environmental impact assessment in Gagretal forest area last year.
The Provincial Council of Ministers had agreed to operate the provincial hospital in Kalagaun as the Surkhet Teaching Hospital by constructing the necessary infrastructure saying that it would take a lot of time to build the structure in the new location. But the federal government could not give a decision on the state's proposal. As a result, the annual budget for the construction of medical college infrastructure could not be spent, say the project staff. The office has stated that Rs. 100 million allocated in FY 2076/77 and Rs. 20 million in 2077/78 could not be spent. It is said that at least 50 bighas of land is required for the project.
