This renowned international hospital in Kathmandu has added a department to cure gastronomic ailments.

Norvic Hospital has adopted a new approach to provide better diagnosis and treatment to gastro patients in the light of increasing gastronomic diseases. The hospital has recently opened the 'Department of General, Gastro Intestinal and Laparoscopic Surgery' where a team of specialist doctors has been attending to each patient to provide swift and expert medical solutions to gastronomic problems.

“The department at Norvic is distinct from similar departments at other hospitals as we provide speedy diagnostic services to our patients based on consultation between specialists,” says RP Mainali, deputy general manager of Norvic Hospital, adding that the department has a team of four doctors and other supporting staff which includes technicians and nurses.

"With the opening of the new department, the patients will get the best gastro-related treatment with sincere care," mentions Mainali. The department is equipped with modern medical equipments such as ‘Endoscopic Ultrasound’ and ‘Single Balloon Enteroscopy’.

The department which opens from Sunday to Friday provides services on Saturdays too for cases that are complicated and referred by other departments and the OPD. With the opening of the new department at Norvic, Mainali believes that the number of gastro and digestion related patients opting for overseas treatment will decrease. Mainali shared that such treatments are generally expensive in foreign countries with a gastro related surgery probably costing millions of Nepali rupees contrary to its costs ranging from Rs 500,000 to Rs 700,000 at Norvic depending upon the case.

The newly-opened department performs the general and gastrointestinal surgery of oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, rectum and anal canal, liver, gall bladder and bile duct, pancreas, spleen, breast and soft tissue tumors, among others. Other surgeries that the department performs are surgery of the appendix, small and large bowel, rectal prolapse and hernia to solve the digestive disorder of the patients. 

The department has a team of four doctors led by Dr Mukunda Raj Joshi, a general gastro intestinal (GI) surgeon at Norvic Hospital. Other GI surgeons of the team include Dr Sanjay Paudyal, Dr Tanka Prasad Bohara and Dr Prakash Chaudhary. According to Dr Paudyal, the entire team will provide team discussion based diagnosis to each patient to resolve their problems at the earliest. Likewise, Dr Bohara said that consultation will be handled by multiple brains, which will help the patients to recover in a very short period of time.

The 'Department of General, Gastro Intestinal and Laparoscopic Surgery at Norvic has successfully completed almost 100 critical gastro-related surgeries and has been receiving a total of 40-45 critical gastro-related cases every month after its commencement some two months ago. “We are handling critical surgeries almost every day. The department doesn’t look after critical cases only but also the normal medical conditions,” informs Bohara.

According to the hospital, digestive-related diseases have been increasing in recent years due to unhealthy lifestyle and intake of unhygienic foods. “Obesity is gradually becoming a problem among Nepalis and many come to the hospital with a hope to reduce excessive weight,” says Prakash Chaudhary. 

Chaudhary adds that the department also carries out surgery that prevents patients from gaining extra body mass and fat. “Laparoscopic surgery is performed in any patients with body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 to control their weight gain. For patients with disease such as diabetes and cholesterol, we recommend them to go for laparoscopic surgery even at BMI of 35 as further weight gain can put their life at risk,” he recommends. The department urges gastro patients to improve their wellbeing by availing the utmost medical care from the best medical minds at Norvic Hospital.