Nepal's National Referral Hospitals: Bir, TUTH, Gangalal, Kanti & More

In Nepal's health system the term 'central' or 'national referral hospital' describes tertiary-care institutions that sit at the top of the referral pyramid. Below them are provincial hospitals, district hospitals, primary health-care centres and community health units. When a case is too complex for a lower-level facility - a serious head injury, a childhood cancer, open-heart surgery or a rare tropical infection - patients are referred upward to these apex centres, most of which are concentrated in the Kathmandu Valley, with major exceptions in Dharan and Bharatpur.

These hospitals are governed under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and the Department of Health Services (DoHS), though several run as autonomous boards, academies or committees created by their own acts of parliament. Institutions such as the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS, which runs Bir Hospital) and the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) are also degree-awarding universities, combining patient care with medical education and research.

This page gives a per-institution encyclopedic profile of ten of the most searched hospitals in Nepal. Bed counts and services change as new blocks open, so figures below are stated as the most recent durable numbers reported by each hospital and by health-sector records; where a hospital reports a range, the profile notes it rather than forcing a single number.

Bir Hospital, in the heart of Kathmandu near Tundikhel, is the oldest hospital in Nepal. It was established in 1889 AD (1947 BS) by the then Prime Minister Bir Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, after whom it is named, beginning with a handful of staff and only about 15 beds. Over more than 130 years it grew from a small general hospital into a large multi-specialty tertiary centre, and its surgical department is regarded as the birthplace of modern surgery in the country.

Since 2002-2003 Bir Hospital has been the principal teaching hospital of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), a government body that awards postgraduate (MD, MS and DM/MCh) qualifications. A landmark modern superspecialty block has substantially expanded its capacity in recent years, and the hospital is frequently cited with several hundred beds serving general, medical, surgical and superspecialty caseloads referred from across Nepal.

Adjacent to Bir Hospital stands the National Trauma Center, Nepal's first dedicated trauma facility. Inaugurated on 7 December 2014, the multi-storey centre was built with Indian government support and provides emergency, orthopaedic, neurosurgical, spinal, burns and plastic-surgery trauma care. It reports a capacity in the order of 250-300 beds and functions administratively in close coordination with Bir Hospital, together forming Kathmandu's core trauma and emergency referral hub.

Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) at Maharajgunj is widely regarded as the country's flagship academic tertiary hospital. It was established in the early 1980s - its outpatient services opened in 1983 AD with generous assistance from the Government of Japan - and it was formally inaugurated in 1986 by the late King Birendra. It functions as the main teaching hospital of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) under Tribhuvan University, Nepal's oldest and largest university.

TUTH began with roughly 300 beds and has expanded substantially; recent reporting places its capacity in the range of 700 to more than 800 beds. It offers a full spectrum of clinical departments - internal medicine, general surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedics, neurology, neurosurgery, cardiology, nephrology and transplant services, oncology, and many superspecialties - alongside training for undergraduate (MBBS, BDS, BSc Nursing) and postgraduate students.

As a national referral centre TUTH receives complex cases from across the country, and it has pioneered several advanced services in Nepal's public sector, including kidney transplantation. Its combination of high patient volume, teaching mandate and research output makes it one of the most influential health institutions in Nepal.

Patan Hospital in Lagankhel, Lalitpur, is one of Nepal's largest and busiest hospitals and is known for a strong community-service ethos. Established in 1982 AD, it grew into a major multi-specialty teaching hospital and since 2008 has served as the primary teaching hospital of the Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), an autonomous health-sciences university. Its bed capacity, historically around 320, has expanded past 450 beds with newer maternity and inpatient blocks, and it handles very large annual outpatient and inpatient volumes.

The Civil Service Hospital (Nijamati Karmachari Hospital) at Minbhawan, New Baneshwar, is a different kind of central institution. Built as a joint venture between the Government of Nepal and the People's Republic of China and handed over in 2008, it opened services around 2009-2010 as a roughly 132-bed hospital. It operates under the government's general-administration wing and was created primarily to provide subsidised, quality care to civil servants and their families, though it also serves the general public.

Both hospitals illustrate how Nepal's apex health facilities span academic (Patan/PAHS) and welfare-oriented (Civil Service) mandates while still delivering broad general and specialist services within the Kathmandu Valley.

Kanti Children's Hospital at Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, is Nepal's principal children's hospital and the national referral centre for paediatric care. It was established in 1963 AD with support from the then USSR (Soviet Union), originally as a 50-bed general hospital, and was later converted into a dedicated children's hospital. It is administered by the Kanti Children's Hospital Development Board, an autonomous body under the MoHP.

The hospital has grown to a reported capacity of around 350 beds and offers comprehensive paediatric services including general paediatrics, paediatric surgery, neonatology, paediatric intensive care (PICU/NICU), paediatric cardiology, oncology, nephrology and other subspecialties. It also runs postgraduate paediatric training accredited through the National Academy of Medical Sciences.

Because specialised child health services remain limited outside the capital, Kanti receives sick children referred from hospitals across the country, making 'kanti children hospital' one of the most searched health-institution queries in Nepal for parents seeking specialist paediatric care.

The Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre (SGNHC) at Bansbari, Kathmandu, is Nepal's dedicated national centre for cardiology and cardiac surgery. Established in the mid-1990s (2052 BS / 1995 AD) and named after the martyr Gangalal Shrestha, it became the country's first tertiary cardiac facility and remains the reference point for complex heart care. Commonly searched as 'gangalal heart hospital', it draws cardiac patients from every province.

The centre reports a capacity of around 300 beds, including a substantial number dedicated to critical and coronary care. Its services span outpatient cardiology, non-invasive diagnostics (ECG, echocardiography, stress testing), cardiac catheterisation and angioplasty, pacemaker and device implantation, paediatric and congenital heart care, and open-heart and other cardiac surgeries.

SGNHC is notable in Nepal's public health story for running large subsidised and free-care schemes for specific patient groups, such as children with congenital heart disease and elderly citizens, substantially reducing the cost barrier to life-saving cardiac procedures. This role has cemented its position as the country's apex heart-care referral institution.

The B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital (BPKMCH) in Bharatpur, Chitwan, is Nepal's leading dedicated cancer hospital and is very frequently searched as 'cancer hospital bharatpur'. Named after Nepal's first elected prime minister, Bishweshwar Prasad (B.P.) Koirala, it was built with assistance from the Government of the People's Republic of China in the late 1990s. It began day services in the mid-1990s and inpatient cancer treatment around 1999-2000, initially with about 100 beds.

To meet rising cancer caseloads the hospital added a large expansion of roughly 250 beds, taking capacity to about 450 inpatient beds. Its infrastructure includes multiple operating theatres, radiotherapy bunkers, and dedicated pathology and radiology blocks, supporting the three pillars of cancer care: surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy (medical oncology). It also offers paediatric oncology and palliative care services.

As a specialised tertiary centre, BPKMCH receives cancer referrals from across Nepal and neighbouring border regions. Its location in Bharatpur - a central, well-connected city on the East-West Highway - makes it accessible to patients from the Terai, hills and Kathmandu Valley alike, and it is a member of international cancer-control networks.

The B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan, Sunsari, is eastern Nepal's premier tertiary hospital and an autonomous health-sciences university. Established on 18 January 1993 as a Nepal-India cooperation project and named after B.P. Koirala, it took over the former Eastern Regional Hospital and became an autonomous university in 1998. Its teaching hospital has grown to several hundred beds - commonly cited around 700 and reported by the institute at higher figures - offering the full range of specialties and postgraduate training across medicine, dentistry, nursing and public health.

The Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku, Kathmandu - universally known as Teku Hospital - is Nepal's national referral centre for tropical and infectious diseases. Its origins trace to a cholera hospital established at Teku in the 1930s (around 1990 BS), and it later took the name of the martyr Shukraraj Shastri. It operates under the MoHP as a roughly 100-bed referral facility and has been central to Nepal's response to outbreaks of cholera, dengue, and other communicable diseases.

Teku Hospital played a defining frontline role during the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary designated hospital for testing and isolation in the early phase of the outbreak. Plans have been announced to substantially expand it into a larger, higher-capacity infectious-disease facility, reflecting its national importance in epidemic preparedness.