Dr Shrestha started his journey in the medical field back in 1985 AD, when he started his MBBS from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), University of Madras, India. He trained his MD in Internal Medicine at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal and Post Graduate Training in Medical Oncology at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Center, New Delhi, India.
Gathering a lot of experience and respect in the field over the years, he has been actively involved since the establishment of Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital (2nd cancer hospital in Nepal) to present day, where he is working hard as the Executive Chairman of Nepal Cancer Hospital and Research Center to bring the state-of-the-art technology for treating cancer all under one roof.
Before NCHRC, Dr. Shrestha worked as Medical Director and Head of Department(HOD) of Medical Oncology in Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, helped establish and run this important public hospital. He also played an instrumental role to establish Om Cancer Care Centre, the dedicated cancer care wing of a popular private hospital in Nepal. His passion for comprehensive cancer care has led him to envision and set up many organizations dedicated to academic, palliative or other aspects of cancer care. As founding president, he provided the vision and energy for the establishment of Nepalese Association of Palliative Care (NAPCare, 2009) and the Nepal Cancer Support group (NCSG, 2009).
As the country’s one of the leading experts on cancer, he has been involved in numerous cancer activities as speaker, teacher, organizer, researcher and founder. He has also been working as a resource person for Nepal Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (NNCTR) for its community empowering activities like “Trainer for the trainer programme” and also Nursing staff training programme of various hospitals in the country, on cancer.
Dr. Shrestha continues being bold and visionary in tackling cancer in Nepal, and wants to help make cancer treatment and control, a part of the country’s national health policy, and help cover cancer patients under a national health insurance policy. His vision is to be able to treat all the cancer patients of Nepal in Nepal itself. Hence NCHRC’s slogan is “Cancer care for Nepalese within Nepal” (Nepali ko cancer ko upachar Nepal ma nai).
Current role