Dr. Bhagawan Koirala

For over 30 years, I have been working in Nepal’s public healthcare system, helping build major institutions that have made specialized medical care available to larger community of Nepal. Bringing in new technology and growing complex medical and surgical services has been a tough but incredibly rewarding journey.

Starting as the Executive Director of Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center in 2001, from almost scratch, and making it a busy cardiac center by any standard, was a greatly fulfilling Experience. Supporters like Mr. Gopal Rajbhandary, who was one of the pioneer rotarians of Nepal, were key in making first few steps of Gangalal. Soon, Gangalal became a top hospital, offering free heart surgeries to kids and seniors and making sure no one is turned away because they can’t pay. Later, we together with my senior colleagues, established the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center in TUTH complex. I had an opportunity to partner with multiple Rotary Clubs of Nepal teamed up with Rotary projects to get funding for equipment, supplies, and training at both Gangalal and TU Teaching Hospital.

In a world where people don’t always put others first, Rotary’s ideas felt like a perfect fit and gave me another way to make a difference.

Nepal’s kids over 36% of the population, or more than 10 million young lives face a huge healthcare problem. There’s only one public children’s hospital in Kathmandu and fewer than 3,000 pediatric beds for the whole country. And too many of these kids die for some preventable or treatable condition. That’s a big gap. Nepal signed up for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and needs to act fast to lower child deaths by 2030. Helping kids stay healthy isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a smart way to build a better future for the country.

To address this, we started the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health (KIOCH), a non-profit organization, focused on building children’s hospitals in every province of Nepal. Working with the government, NGOs, and businesses, KIOCH is setting up a lasting healthcare network for kids of Nepal. Our first hospital in Koshi Province has already helped over 130,000 children, and a 200-bed main hospital is being built in Kathmandu. Like in the past, we hope to build strong partnerships with RCHG and other rotary clubs to make this dream come true.