Neurosurgery was
started in Kathmandu Model Hospital since January
1998. This was the 3 rd department in the whole
country and the first in the non-governmental
sector to have a full time neurosurgical team. The
leadership of the institution took great pain in
starting the program.
The department was
started in a humble way with only few types of
equipment. Many of the equipments were locally
designed; much adaptation was done in the existing
equipments. As with any other services this
department also faced many challenges during this
period. Since the conception, the department is
developing in terms of quantity and quality care,
which is evident from the statistics. This is
because of the continuous support and guidance
provided by all the well-wishers especially the
medical colleagues, dedication of the nursing
staff and support from the administration. We are
also thankful to the medical colleagues from other
institutions for referring cases and helping us in
the after care of our patients. Even during the
difficult days of the hospital department was able
to run smoothly due to untired and endless effort
of the people working for its development. Our
department was able to give good alternative in
the existing neurosurgical services in Nepal in
terms of quantity and quality.
Since the
current number of neurosurgeons and neurosurgical
demand for the nation has large discrepancy we are
lacking behind in promoting and adapting modern
advances. Among the existing services most are
utilized for life saving neurosurgical procedures.
However commencement of epilepsy surgery, surgery
for Parkinson’s disease, selective dorsal
rhizotomy for Cerebral palsy as routine operations
marks the new era in neurosurgery in the country.
So we have interested into the era of functional
neurosurgery
Department - Present
Situation
We feel lucky to get referral
from all over Nepal. During these 7 years we are
seeing gradual increase in the quality and
quantitative care of the patient. This is because
of the technical support we received from few
foreign neurosurgical institutions mainly from
Japan and Germany. Because of such ongoing
technical support we have been able to start
stereotactic surgery, endoscopic surgery, epilepsy
surgery and functional surgery mainly for
Parkinsonism and cerebral palsy. At present we are
doing about 300 neurosurgical cases. We have 2
satellite hospitals in the periphery where we are
giving our service and at the same time we are
training local surgeons how to manage emergency
neurosurgical problem. We periodically do epilepsy
camps, our motto is to go to the patient if they
can not visit us. In 2004 we could organize 2
epilepsy camps, and expect to increase our
involvement in epilepsy surgery in the future.
We are also routinely involved in
different CME programs to increase the awareness
on neurosurgical problems among different medical
specialities and also to educate the general
public.
Department - Future
Plan
To decrease the
neurosurgeon-general population ratio, residency
programme should be started in the country.
Short term training for
young neurosurgeons should be
facilitated.
Extension of neurosurgical
facilities beyond Kathmandu should be started
without delay however current manpower in the
field is not sufficient so training of other
surgeons for life saving procedure in
neurosurgery is essential.
Modern technology in
neurosurgery should be introduced in the
country. Therefore we have two challenges at the
same time to promote the basic neurosurgery and
to entertain the recent advances. Although
technology has boundries like a country, it is
very difficult to transfer technology from one
country to another. But we can adapt technology
into our setting, but we are more keen to refine
our techniques to such an extent that it will
partially cover the technological setbacks we
have. We would like to invite residents from
different Asian countries to stay with us for
some period of their time, so that both parties
can learn at the same time.
