Kikuta Yutaka, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, attended the handover ceremony of the Project for the Improvement of Medical Equipment in Advanced Public Hospitals which was held at Ministry of Health and Population.

This project, funded by the grant assistance from the Government of Japan, provided medical equipment to eight advanced public hospitals in Kathmandu Valley (Human Organ Transplant Centre, Patan Hospital, Paropakar Maternity & Women's Hospital, National Trauma Centre, Bir Hospital, Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre, Kanti Children's Hospital, and Manmohan Cardiothoracic, Vascular and Transplant Centre) to improve the quality of healthcare services, mainly by strengthening the diagnostic and treatment systems for patients with non-communicable diseases, thereby contributing to poverty reduction and improving the quality of life in the country.

The number of patients with non-communicable diseases in Nepal is increasing every year, and the top three causes of the human death in the country are cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancer.

Therefore, it is essential to strengthen the diagnostic and medical systems to tackle these non-communicable diseases. On this occasion, Ambassador Kikuta congratulated and expressed his appreciation for the efforts of all those involved in the project on behalf of the Government and People of Japan.

He also mentioned that the project is helping to improve the situation in which medical services cannot be provided due to the lack of and/or aging of equipment, and that the support to these public hospitals will contribute significantly to the economic and social development of Nepal.

These eight hospitals have already started using the provided medical equipment, such as MRI, CT, and X-ray systems, to help diagnose and treatment. The Embassy of Japan hopes that these hospitals will continue to lead the medical and healthcare sector in Nepal towards the goal of providing quality healthcare to its citizens.