The Bhutanese Leading the way.
People from 19 dzongkhags continue to visit Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital, the country’s only national referral hospital, often leading to congestion and pressure on existing facilities.
Despite growing concerns over bed shortages and increasing patient load at the hospital, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has said that the Multidisciplinary Super-Speciality Hospital (MDSSH) project in Thimphu is progressing as planned.
The project is one of the flagship initiatives under the 13th Five-Year Plan and is aimed at strengthening Bhutan’s specialized healthcare services.
The Health Minister Tandin Wangchuk said, “The construction of the MDSSH is being initiated so that, upon completion, the current facilities of the JDWNRH can be freed up, refurbished, and renovated to function as the Thimphu General Hospital, while the new MDSSH will assume the role of the national referral hospital.”
According to Lyonpo, the preparatory process for the MDSSH began on 13th December 2024, when the MoH held a consultation meeting with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MoIT) to initiate the project and explore possibilities for expediting construction within a 36-month timeframe.
The concept note was submitted to the Cabinet on 6th January 2025 and later revised and resubmitted on 21st January 2025 following further directives.
The Cabinet then directed relevant agencies to prepare and submit a shortlist of potential bidders, finalize the Terms of Reference (TOR), and prepare bidding documents. It also directed that a comprehensive Detailed Project Report (DPR) be completed before implementation.
Following this, the Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Finance, and MoH jointly issued a Standard Expression of Interest to four pre-selected firms.
However, after the only two bidders failed to qualify, the MoH re-tendered the project under a short bid submission process.
After evaluation, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was selected as the consulting firm on 28th August 2025. The contract took effect on 2nd September 2025, and the DPR process was completed on 21st April 2026.
“I am pleased to inform the public that the DPR has now been completed, and all relevant documents were formally handed over to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport earlier this week,” Lyonpo said.
As per the DPR, detailed design and engineering drawings are expected to be completed by February 2027, construction is scheduled to begin by April 2027, and the hospital is targeted for completion by 2030.
According to the Health Minister, the MoH, in close collaboration with the MoIT, will continue working to expedite implementation and identify the most effective pathways for earlier completion of the project.
