KATARI: The Koshi Provincial Hospital here will provide free outpatient department (OPD) services from today.

The hospital will provide the service free of charge after Katari Municipality decided to reimburse the amount for the service.

Chief Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Gaurav Shah, on Wednesday, issued a notice informing the service recipients that the hospital will provide free check up services from today. “From today, service recipients who come to the OPD will not have to pay,” said Superintendent Sah, “Katari Municipality will reimburse the amount that the service recipients have to pay.”

The hospital receives an average of 35,000 service recipients every year, of them 20 percent of them have health insurance, said Superintendent Shah. During a meeting of the Hospital Management Committee on Tuesday Mayor of Katari Rajesh Chandra Shrestha said that considering the situation OPD services should be free. The hospital had been charging Rs 20 per patient for outpatient services.

Apart from Udayapur, the hospital receives service recipients from neighbouring Sindhuli, Okhaldhunga, Solukhumbu, and Khotang districts. “No matter where the patient comes from OPD services will be free for all,” said Mayor Shrestha. “We have made this decision so that all citizens can get some relief and convenient services.”

With effect from the current fiscal year Katari Hospital has been upgraded to a provincial hospital. Before becoming a provincial hospital, it was run by the municipality.