Nepal, April 8 -- Last week, Khadka Bahadur Budathoki, a liver patient from ward 5 of Champadevi Rural Municipality of Okhaldhunga district, was found lying on a metal bench outside the emergency ward of Bir Hospital. The 61 year-old, who was a regular patient of the hospital, recounted how his children brought him to the Bir emergency for treatment, only to be advised by doctors to take him to some other hospital due to lack of intensive care at the time.

"My father is a jaundice patient and his condition is serious," said Subash, the patient's son. "Doctors have asked us to take him to other hospitals, but that's not easy for poor folks like us."

Khadka is among dozens of patients who visit the country's oldest hospital every day, but...