ओसियन नेपाल
OCEAN-Nepal
In 2026 the OCEAN-Nepal clinical partnership programme is launching.
Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara.
Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara, Nepal, is a prominent healthcare and educational institution affiliated with Kathmandu University and is a leader in providing both healthcare and medical education in the region.
The hospital has a 750-bed capacity and offers tertiary-level medical care alongside educational resources for undergraduate, postgraduate, and allied health programmes. Delivering healthcare across a wide range of departments including general medicine, general surgery, neurosurgery, and critical care.
Manipal houses one of the only neurosurgical and neurointensive care departments in the country. OCEAN is developing our first Clinician Partnership Programme to network directly with the neurosurgical, neuro-anaesthesia and intensive care departments at Manipal to promote excellence in neuroanaesthesia and neurointensive care.
Our doctors will be tasked with working collaboratively with these departments to help improve healthcare governance, through the introduction of teaching programmes and governance strategies whilst working clinically within the Manipal healthcare teams.
Manipal’s OCEAN Faculty
Dr. Junu Shrestha Karmacharya, MD (ObGyn)
Dr. Junu Shrestha Karmacharya is Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Nepal Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara. A faculty member since 2008, she has over 15 years of academic and clinical leadership experience. She was awarded the Young Gynaecologist Award by the Asian & Oceania Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 2011 and has published over 20 papers in indexed journals. Dr Karmacharya heads our Manipal team as OCEAN Coordinator for Manipal, Pokhara with a drive to support educational health initiatives and quality improvement across Nepal.
Dr. Ashim Subedi, MD (General Practice & Emergency Medicine)
Dr. Ashim Subedi is the Emergency Medicine Chief at Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, where he has led emergency services for over seven years. He has extensive experience in acute care, disaster preparedness, medical education, and health systems strengthening, and played a key frontline role during the COVID-19 response in Gandaki Province. Dr Karki has multiple peer-reviewed publications and serves as an editor and reviewer for national and international journals. He is the OCEAN Lead for Emergency medicine at Manipal, supporting training and the integration of quality improvement at Manipal Hospital.
Dr. Rajan Basnet, MD (Intensive Care and Anaesthesiology)
Dr. Rajan Basnet is a Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthesiologist with a strong commitment to global health equity, quality improvement, and capacity building in critical care systems. He currently serve as ICU In-Charge at Nepal Manipal College of Medical Sciences.
With postgraduate training in anaesthesiology (MD, Kathmandu University) and advanced fellowship-level training in adult critical care, Dr. Basnet has extensive experience delivering high-acuity care in resource-constrained and geographically challenging settings. His clinical interests align closely with OCEAN’s mission and include advanced mechanical ventilation, neurocritical care, point-of-care ultrasound, and perioperative echocardiography, with a focus on safe, scalable, and context-appropriate practice.
A strong advocate for multidisciplinary teamwork, education, and systems-level improvement, Dr. Basnet contributes to training and mentorship of junior clinicians and nurses, supporting the development of resilient critical care services. His professional values align with OCEAN’s focus on ethical global partnerships, locally led improvement, and high-quality care for vulnerable populations.. He joins OCEAN as the Intensive Care Lead at Manipal.
Dr. Balgopal Karmacharya, MS, FCPS (Neurosurgery)
Dr. Balgopal Karmacharya is Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Kathmandu University and Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon at Manipal Teaching Hospital, where he has led the Neurosurgery Department for over 13 years. He completed his medical training at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, with postgraduate surgical training at the National Academy of Medical Sciences and fellowship training in neurosurgery through the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan. His clinical interests include minimally invasive surgical treatments for brain and spinal disorders. Dr Karmacharya serves as the OCEAN Neuro ICU Lead for Manipal, supporting capacity-building and medical education initiatives with OCEAN doctors.
Dr. Amir Babu Shrestha, MD (Anaesthesiology)
Dr. Amir Babu Shrestha is Professor and Head of the Department of Anesthesiology at Nepal Manipal College of Medical Sciences and Nepal Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara, Nepal. He currently serves as Chair of the Organ Transplant Coordination Committee at the Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal, and is the Immediate Past President of the Society of Anesthesiologists of Nepal (2023–2025).
He has extensive clinical, academic, and leadership experience across Nepal and internationally, including fellowships in Australia and Japan, health financing training in South Korea, and visiting professorships in the Maldives and Timor-Leste. His career spans roles as hospital director, national academic committee member, and long-term advisor to anesthesiology training programmes supported by DFAT Australia.
With over two decades of commitment to rural and low-resource healthcare, Professor Shrestha has led annual surgical outreach camps in some of Nepal’s most remote districts since 2005. His special interests include regional and obstetric anaesthesia, and strengthening safe anesthesia services in resource-limited and rural settings. He joins the Manipal team as OCEAN lead for Anaesthetics.
B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences,
Dharan.
The B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), located in Dharan, Nepal, is teaching hospital and scientific intitution specialising in medical education and infectious disease research.
BPKIHS operates a 700-bed central teaching hospital and extends its services to district hospitals and primary healthcare centers, employing a "teaching district" model for community engagement. It offers a range of healthcare services spanning general medicine, intensive care, surgery and infectious/tropical disease, and offers educational programmes for undergraduate education in medicine, nursing, and dentistry.
Our Clinician Partnership Programme at BPKIHS will see OCEAN doctors from the UK working collaboratively with the emergency, anaesthesia, and critical care departmental leads. We endeavour to foster our clinicans to help deliver on specific quality improvement projects, guidelines and teaching programmes to improve healthcare delivery to the urban and rural populations this hospital serves.
BPKIHS Dharan’s OCEAN Faculty
Dr. Krishna Pokharel, MD (Anaesthetics and Critical Care)
Dr. Krishna Pokharel is an professor of Anaesthetics with specialist interests in human factors, patient safety, and emotional intelligence in healthcare. Trained at BPKIHS from undergraduate through postgraduate level, she has remained closely committed to the institution throughout her career. She completed fellowship training in Critical Care at CMC Vellore and further specialist training in anaesthesiology in Kobe, Japan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served on the Rapid Response Team and led the design and delivery of COVID hospital services as Hospital Chief. She has previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of BPKIHS and as institutional spokesperson, and is currently Dean (Examinations) and Coordinator of the MBBS Curriculum Revision Committee, leading the transition towards competency-based medical education. She serves as the OCEAN Coordinator and Anaesthetics lead for BPKIHS, supporting patient safety, education, and health systems improvement initiatives.
Dr. Rabin Bhandari, MD (General Practice and Emergency Medicine)
Dr. Rabin Bhandari is Professor and Head of the Department of GP and Emergency Medicine at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan. An academic clinician with a strong focus on emergency medicine and emergency department systems, he has co-authored 28 peer-reviewed publications and is actively involved in research, clinical leadership, and postgraduate training; contributing to the advancement of emergency care and academic emergency medicine in Nepal. He joins the team as OCEAN’s Emergency Medicine lead in BPKIHS.