Bir Hospital

Bir Hospital (बीर अस्पताल) is the oldest and one of the busiest hospitals in Nepal. It is located at the center of Kathmandu city. The hospital is run by the National Academy of Medical Sciences, a government agency since 2003.
The hospital provides medical and surgical treatments. It current has a capacity of 535 beds.
It provides some post graduate medical training e.g. general surgery, internal medicine, orthopedic surgery, pathology etc.
History.
Bir Hospital was established in 1947 B.S (1889AD) by Bir Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana and was initially called Prithvi Bir Hospital, Prithvi being the name of the then king Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah. It had 30 beds.
Providers from hospital.
Disaster Response.
The hospital's disaster management plan was used first in 1988 following a stampede incident in the national stadium in Kathmandu.
Surgery.
The surgery department is the oldest department of the country. It has different units as General surgery, Gastro and hepatobiliary surgery unit, Burn and Plastic surgery Unit, Urosurgery, Cardiothoracic, Neurosurgery.
The general surgery department performs about 3,000 elective and emergency operations each year, and similar number of minor general surgical cases. The department needs increase in trained manpower and equipment, as well as refurbishment of the wards and increase in the number of beds as well as operation days.
Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit.
Burn and Plastic surgery unit has 16 beds, including 3 burn ICU beds. Every year more than 100 severely burned patients used to be admitted in this unit. The unit is currently run by two general surgeons. The WHO Nepal has sponsored a surgeon (Dr. Peeyush Dahal) to have fellowship training in plastic and reconstructive surgery. This unit is also conducting the research in burn care management.
Dental Department.
Dental department opened a new Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics unit in 2009. MDS degrees in prosthodontics and periodontology & oral implantology have also been offered since 2009.
MRI Service.
Bir Hospital has started MRI service from Chaitra 5, 2072 B.S.
Funding and challenges.
The yearly budget of NPR 27 Crore (about US$2.371 million), two thirds of which is funded by the government. The hospital has been facing financial difficulties for many years now. The lack of adequate funding, non-functional equipment and inability of the administration to get those running pose significant challenges to the hospital's functioning. Moreover, inappropriate politicization of the administration seems to be the major contributor to the sorry state of affairs at the hospital.
To help in the financing of the hospital expenses, it runs a medical school, which conducts post-graduate medical, surgical and other specialists training and also runs bachelor's level in nursing.