Bir Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals of Nepal. This was the fully equipped hospital established during the Rana regime.  Today it has a proud history of 129 years and the first hospital of Nepal where the practice of modern medicine commenced. The hospital is one of the busiest hospitals in the country in which patients from all over the country come here to get treatment.  It is located at the centre of Kathmandu City in front of the new bus station. The hospital has been providing medical and surgical treatment since its establishment. This hospital is run by the National Academy of Medical Sciences, a government agency. The hospital has 72% free beds and under special circumstances the remaining beds also become subsidized or free.

The hospital provides some post graduate medical training for an example; general surgery, internal medicine, orthopaedic surgery and pathology. It has become an internship centre for students who have passed MBBS from China and Russia and other parts of the world. Many people from rural areas come here to get free treatment. The two third of the yearly budget of the hospital is funded by the government of Nepal. 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. This is a historical hospital as every modern medical service in the country has roots in this hospital.

History of Bir Hospital

Bir Hospital was established in 1889 by then Prime Minister Bir Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana. At that time the hospital had only seven beds and five staff in total. According to the report of the hospital, it was the first hospital to introduce neurosurgery at the time when CT scan machines were not available in the country. In the field of modern cardiology Nepal’s first case of angiography, cath lab and valve replacement were all done at Bir Hospital. Bir Hospital was developed into the National Academy of Medical Sciences in 2002, which operates under the Ministry of  Health and Population. Today it has a profound history of 129 years and has become one of the oldest hospitals in the history of Nepal.  Bir hospital is the central hospital where services were provided to the royal family members in the past.

Vision

To be a leader in the field of quality medical education and to produce a high skilled human resource for the nation this Academy will play a pivotal role. To upgrade different strata of health institutes of Nepal and to provide quality health services to everyone.

Mission

Develop the institution into a centre of excellence for higher education and medical services by enhancing teaching, learning and research activities. To fulfill the growing demand of human resources for the country and contribute to the national health policy Expansion of teaching, learning and research activities to Regional, Sub Regional and Zonal levels.

Services of The Bir Hospital

This hospital has continued to make big efforts into the path of healthcare in the nation. It has provided a wide range of services to the community starting from emergency care to general, medical and surgical care in numbers of medical and surgical subspecialties. The hospital is rapidly developing its standard into the true multi speciality and super speciality hospital with the experts in Diagnostic imaging and Therapeutic areas.  

1. Outpatient Department Services

The OPD services of the hospital runs from Sunday to Friday and is closed during the public holidays. It provides its OPD service from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The patients and visitors have to register for the service from the reception counter at the main lobby of the Hospital. As it is the tertiary level health care centre it has various departments from where many care are provided to the patient. They provide general check up, comprehensive care, paediatric and adult chest, heart, gastro- hepatic, neurological and endocrinology, general and specialized surgery, female health problems and obstetrics care, skin and sexually transmitted disease, mental health issues and de- addiction. The hospital also has extensive OPD services like pre anaesthesia check up, Orthopaedic check up, head, neck, ear, eye and nose clinic and whole range of oral and maxillofacial services.

2. 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 and Neurosurgery. The general surgery department performs about 3000 elective and emergency operations each year and a similar number of minor general surgical cases. Minor procedures like cardiology services such as ECG, TMT (Treadmill Stress Test), ABMP, Holter, Echo, Coronary Angiography, Coronary Angiography & Angioplasty, Renal Angiography , PTMC, PPI, TPI, Pericardiocentesis . Endoscopy and Colonoscopy are performed under gastro- hepatology service. Peritoneocentesis, pleural fluid tappings, Bronchoscopy and PFTs are performed routinely. The department needs an 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.

3. Inpatient Department

The hospital has a capacity of 535 beds. The patient services provided by the hospital are prompt and efficient through the huge infrastructure, ample bed facility and quality and experienced doctors and staff. Each clinic has its own inpatient ward and a core team of dedicated staff. Separate Ward blocks for Internal Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry and Maternal and Child Health Care (MCH) are present in hospital. There is Intensive Care Units (ICU) for paediatrics (PICU), Neonates (NICU), Maternal (MICU) and general. A Separate Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and Medical ICU also runs as Inpatient Service. Tropical Ward (part of the Medical ward) provides care and treatment for tropical and infectious diseases patients separately.

4. Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit

The Burn and Plastic Surgery unit has 16 beds, including 3 burn ICU beds. Every year more than 100 severely burned patients are admitted in this unit. This unit is currently run by two general surgeons. It is also conducting the research in burn care management.

5.Emergency Services

Emergency and Trauma services are available 24 hours a day and all the days of the year. It is managed by  ER Medical Officers working in the periodic shifts. For each specialist’s attention, Consultant doctors as well as Resident doctors from all specialties are available on call. The ER is well equipped with  critical care beds (supported by individual bed-side cardiac monitors, syringe/infusion pumps, defibrillator and multi-purpose ventilator, which is fit as a portable ventilator for transporting patients to ICU/CCU/NICU etc).

6. Community Programs

In addition to clinical services, the hospital also arranges many mobile clinics and outreach clinics with the partnership with different NGOs and other international organizations. The hospital sends doctors and nurses for managing the community health outposts in order to deliver healthcare services at the grass root level.

7. Laboratory Services

There are three separate labs in the hospital carrying out all the necessary tests such as biochemistry, microbiology and pathology. Culture sensitivity, staining procedures, Microscopy, Stool occult blood, Blood for Malaria parasites (PS and QBC) and microfilaria, Bone marrow/splenic aspirate for LD bodies, Optimal, rk39, DAT, and a wide range of immunological services for different diseases are performed.

The tests like Histopathology, Cytopathology (FNAC/USG Guided FNAC/CT guided FNAC/PAP Smears/Fluids/Sputum/BAL), Hematology (CBC, Urine for RE and Ketone Bodies, Bence Jones Protein, Pregnancy ELISA, Semen Analysis, Body fluid analysis, AEC, ESR, Retics, PS, BT, CT, PT, aPTT, HbF, Osmotic fragility, Coombs test, Blood grouping, G6PD, BM Cytology, PS for Cytology, etc.), Special staining and chemistry, Cyto Special Staining (AFB/PAS/Mucicarmine), Histo special staining (AFB, PAS, Giemsa, Oil Red O, Masson Trichrome, Congo Red, Reticulin, Melanin bleach, Iron stain, Gram’s staining, etc.) and Cytochemistry (MPO/PAS/Sudan Black). Immunohistochemistry (B-cell, T-cell, CD stains, desmin, ER, PR, EMA, NSE, Thyroglobulin, CEA, AFP, etc) are also done.

8. Radio- diagnosis and Imaging

Bir Hospital has started MRI service from the Chaitra 2072 BS. X ray, USG and digital mammography are also done in the hospital

The hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in the history of Nepal which has been providing quality care and services to the patients from all over the country.