October 5: The Government of Nepal and the Government of Japan on Tursday signed agreement for utilizing the grant assistance of JPY 3,296 million (approximately NPR 2.95 billion) for the implementation of the ‘Project for the Improvement of Dhulikhel Hospital’s Trauma and Emergency Center’.    
Finance Secretary Dr Krishna Hari Pushkar and Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Kikuta Yutaka exchanged the notes on behalf of their respective governments, reads a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance.    
Similarly, the grant agreement was signed by Shreekrishna Nepal, joint secretary at the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division of the Ministry of Finance and Okubo Akimitsu, chief representative of JICA Nepal Office on behalf of GON and JICA respectively.    
The project aims to strengthen medical services for the rapidly growing number of trauma and emergency patients in Nepal by constructing a trauma and emergency center including emergency rooms, operating rooms, an ICU, and outpatient consultation rooms and providing medical equipment such as MRI, CT, C-arm, and X-ray machines, high steam sterilizers, etc at Dhulikhel Hospital.    
The project implementation period is 48 months and the proposed assistance will be mobilized through the Ministry of Health and Population as a conditional grant, reads the statement.    
“I would like to thank the Government of Japan for its continuous support in strengthening the health sector of Nepal. This project will be instrumental in catering to the emergency services especially to the patients of Dhulikhel and nearby places,” said Finance Secretary, Dr Krishna Hari Pushkar.     
“I hope that the project will contribute to ensuring the healthy lives and promoting the welfare of Nepali people, thereby promoting the self-sustaining development of Nepal. I am confident that the objectives of the project will be achieved, thereby further strengthening the existing cordial relationship of friendship and cooperation between the peoples of Japan and Nepal,” stated Kikuta Yutaka, ambassador of Japan to Nepal.    
In Nepal, the number of trauma and emergency patients is increasing due to frequent disasters, public health emergencies, traffic accidents caused by increased traffic volume, and strokes and heart diseases caused by dietary changes associated with economic development. Therefore, it is urgent and important to increase the number of hospital beds and introduce necessary medical equipment, added the statement. -- RSS