Kathmandu, July 26 -- year-old Sunita Kumari from Bara district was admitted to the Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre in Kathmandu for the fourth time to undergo heart valve replacement and repair surgery.

On each of the previous three occasions, however, she was discharged without undergoing the life-saving procedure because her parents could not arrange the money needed.

The surgery costs more than Rs400,000, excluding the cost of medicines and other related expenses. Although the hospital provided financial assistance of up to Rs250,000 under the government's free treatment scheme, the total cost of Sunita's treatment exceeded the ceiling, leaving her family to arrange the remaining amount on their own.

"Even during her fourth v...