The above story is a real-life experience of Rupesh Lal, a 45-year old man from a town in Southeast Nepal. Until February 2016, Rupesh was a very healthy man who ran his convenience store in the heart of the city and had respectable earnings. He sent both of his sons to a nearby private school and was an active member of his community. When Rupesh was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer, his world fell apart. 

Even though Rupesh could afford to get treatment in the city, it was not convenient. He could not speak the language, he had no family around, he missed the local ethnic food, and his son missed months of school. The family back home constantly worried because they could not be with him when he was going through the rough side effects of the cancer treatment and the complications of the procedures he underwent.

He decided to return home against his doctors’ advice, and he came back before finishing his treatment. Though Rupesh did not beat cancer, he received palliative care services from clinicians trained by the Binaytara Foundation as part of our hospice & palliative care training programs in Nepal. 

In December 2018, we opened a 25-bed cancer hospital – Binaytara Foundation Cancer Center (BTFCC), in Janakpur, Nepal. BTFCC is the first and only cancer hospital in Madhesh Province, a state with more than six million people. Today, BTFCC offers state-of-the-art cancer prevention, early detection, cancer treatment, chemotherapy, surgical oncology, palliative care, ICU, in-patient care, and laboratory services. The pharmacy supplies services to cancer patients and non-cancer patients in the region. The hospital employs several dozen healthcare providers, including oncologists, surgeons, medical officers, nurses, and laboratory staff. 

Every Sunday, doctors at BTFCC present patient cases to a virtual Tumor Board of 10 to 15 international physicians. The video consultations include surgeons, oncologists, and pathologists who donate their time to review patient cases. This helps doctors at the hospital to broaden their knowledge and explore treatment options. Other physicians from Nepal and India also take part to improve their knowledge of cancer care. 

Under the best circumstances, individuals seeking cancer care in the region around Janakpur, Nepal, have had to travel eight hours to the nearest cancer center in the capital city of Kathmandu or Bharatpur, Chitwan. Most cannot make the trip due to a lack of transportation, poor road conditions, work obligations, and even a local language barrier. Unfortunately, patients with cancer are often undiagnosed or diagnosed at terminal stages. A local cancer care hospital where the disease can be detected and treated early is essential to save lives. As such, BTF founders and the board believe it is time to respond to this critical need in Nepal by building a cancer hospital.