Introduction According to Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention (ACCP) 2004, cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in developing countries. According to hospital based data, in Nepalese women it is the most common cancer. Pap smear is the very significant screening test for reduction of incidence and mortality from cervical cancer. WHO recommends high coverage (80%) and screening of the population at risk is utmost importance but many developing countries have failed to accomplish this.

Objective To evaluate cervical cancer screening coverage of women in Bharatpur.

Methods Population based cross sectional study was done from October 2006 to March 2007. 1547 ever married women aged 15–59 were selected with cluster randomisation procedure from Bharatpur municipalities. Cervical cancer screening was conducted in collaboration with IARC, France and cancer hospital in Bharatpur. Ethical clearance was sought from Nepal Health Research council. Face to face interviews were performed using a standard questionnaire to elicit information about number of Pap test in the past that they had.

Results Our study result for women who had Pap smear taken at least once in their lifetime showed 29% for 405 women who are age group 16–29 and 46.6% for 446 women with age group 30–44.

Conclusion Present opportunistic cervical cancer screening in Bharatpur is directed towards screening significant proportion of women with less risk. This should be discouraged and focus on risk group of women with 35–45 years of age.