Modi to hand over trauma centre, helicopter to Nepal

Kathmandu, Nov 24: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Tuesday hand over a trauma centre built with Indian aid adjacent to the Bir Hospital in the centre of Kathmandu.

Modi will be arriving in Kathmandu Tuesday afternoon to attend the 18th Saarc Summit Nov 26-27.

Similarly, during his Nepal visit, he will also gift an advanced light helicopter (ALH), generically named HAL Dhruv Mark-3, to Nepal.

According to the Nepal Army, Modi will hand over the keys of the helicopter to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala who will then hand them over to Chief of the Nepal Army Gen. Gaurav Sumsher Rana at a function organized at the Nepal Army Pavilion in Tundikhel, in the heart of Kathmandu.

Earlier, Nepal had sought to purchase two ALHs from India at a highly subsidised price during the 11th Bilateral Consultative Group meeting in Kathmandu in July. After lengthy negotiations, the Indian side had agreed to gift one helicopter to Nepal.

The helicopter is designed to meet the requirements of both military and civil operators. Manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the helicopter costs $6.5 million. It has already landed in Kathmandu Saturday.

With sound features, the helicopter has been equipped with rocket, air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles and a gun turret.

Similarly, the 200-bedded trauma centre is a Rs.1.5-billion project of the government of India and it was supposed to come into operation in 2009. But the project got delayed after Nepal's anti-graft body, National Vigilance Centre, seized some documents for review.

The centre will have 150 beds in the trauma ward, six operation theatres, 14 intensive care units (ICUs), eight resuscitation rooms and beds for emergency observation, 10 examination cubicles in the outpatient department and a triage area.

IANS