Pitambar Sapkota, a patient admitted to Alive Hospital and Trauma Centre in Bharatpur, Chitwan, was waiting for senior neurosurgeon Dr Bal Krishna Thapa for a surgery when the US-Bangla plane crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday afternoon.

Fate had something else in store. Dr Thapa died in the plane crash that left 50 other passengers dead, and more than 20 injured.

Sapkota, 65, of Parbat district admitted to the hospital on Thursday was dumbfounded at Thapa’s death when he heard the sad news on the tragic day.

He has a blood clot in the head, rendering his right hand immobile, and has to be operated on. “Dr Thapa had told me that he would operate on me upon his return. But things have taken a different turn,” he said from the hospital bed.

Thapa, who was chief at the neuro unit of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Chitwan, was returning after attending a conference on neurosurgery in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, when the 78-seater US-Bangla Airlines Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft crashed at 2:18 pm.

The total 71 passengers including a four-member crew were on board including 33 Nepalis, 32 Bangladeshis and one each from China and Maldives.

Dr Thapa was scheduled to do surgical procedure on Sapkota and three other patients admitted to the Cancer Hospital.

“I have not handled a single surgery alone so far. Three patients are scheduled for surgery,” said Dr Benju Laxmi Pradhan, who worked with Dr Thapa for the last six years as a surgery team member.

Thapa, a gold medallist, worked for the Cancer Hospital since 2058 B.S. He also worked for private hospitals including Alive Hospital.

“Dr Thapa was scheduled to return on Saturday from Dhaka, and we had called patients for surgery on Sunday,” said executive chairperson of Chitwan Hospital Private Limited Chuda Mani Ghimire.

Thapa was an avid writer. He has published two anthologies of poems - ‘Daktari Kabita’ and ‘Daktarka Kabita’ and an essay ‘Chirfar’.