Kathmandu – BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital is preparing to start bone marrow transplant services. A seven-member Chinese expert team arrived in Chitwan on Thursday to support the initiative. The Chinese government will assist in constructing a dedicated building, providing necessary equipment, and managing human resources for the transplant program. An agreement on this collaboration has already been signed between the governments of Nepal and China.
According to the hospital’s Executive Director, Dr. Shivaji Paudel, the visiting team will study the supporting departments required for bone marrow transplants. This includes assessing the current status and potential contributions of departments such as the Intensive Care Unit, Radiation Oncology, Laboratory, and Medical Oncology.
Led by Dr. Chahu Qiuming, the head of the hospital’s previous 15th Chinese medical team, the delegation consists of seven specialized doctors. During the welcoming ceremony, Hospital Management Committee Chairman Dr. Bijay Nyaupane urged the team to complete the work as soon as possible to make the service available to patients. He expressed his confidence that the project would be completed within this fiscal year and assured full cooperation from the hospital.
Team leader Qiuming, along with the leader of the current 16th Chinese medical team at the hospital, Yan Liang, stated that they would spend five days studying, observing, and interacting within relevant departments as part of the transplant preparation phase.
According to Dr. Paudel, a modern two-story building for bone marrow transplants will be constructed near the current administrative building. The Ministry of Health and Population has completed all necessary processes, and the project file is now with the Ministry of Forests and Environment for environmental impact assessment in its final stage. “We expect this process to be completed within the next one or two weeks,” he said.
The hospital has already documented all 29 existing buildings, obtained map approval from Bharatpur Metropolitan City by paying NPR 17.8 million in revenue, and completed the necessary record-keeping. Once the environmental impact assessment is finalized, construction will begin with Chinese support.
The Chinese team has indicated that bone marrow transplant services will begin within three years at most. Initially, a four-bed unit will be established, capable of performing around 50 bone marrow transplants annually.
According to Dr. Gurusharan Sah, Head of the Medical Oncology Department, Nepal requires approximately 100 bone marrow transplants each year. Currently, most patients seek treatment in Indian hospitals, where the cost is about INR 2 million per patient. With this service available domestically, treatment expenses are expected to decrease significantly.
