Kathmandu: The new government’s goal of providing patients with treatment as quickly as possible and providing them with medicines at affordable prices is slowly taking shape.
The government is doing so by maintaining overall digital record of patients including their health status and treatment provided to date. There are six health-related goals in point no. 85 of the 100-point agenda of governance reforms made public by the government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah in March earlier this year.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Food Safety has gradually started to eliminate many anomalies in the health services sector by starting with a change in working culture. Comparing the past and the present, Ministry Spokesperson Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari says the entire working culture of the health sector has changed. The practice of dilly dallying, violating the procedure, and making decisions based on biases has now been eliminated. From large federal hospitals providing health services to lower-level units under the ministry, there is continuous monitoring and inquiry from the ministerial level to make them accountable and work result-oriented.
One notable change is the government’s step to make 10 per cent free beds in hospitals mandatory targeting the poor and financially incapable people. Since the ‘Free Health Dashboard’ with integrated details of free hospital beds came into operation, 2,262 people have benefited. So far, 213 hospitals have put updated details on their total beds, including the beds that will constitute 10 percent of them, on the dashboard.
In addition, the free health dashboard has contact numbers and service details of a total of 32 blood transfusion service centers, including Nepal Red Cross and hospitals. The government has approved the Targeted Group Free Treatment Dashboard (Operation and Management) Procedure, 2083, to provide all services in free beds and has placed it on the website of the Ministry of Health and Food Safety.
In addition, continuous service-related training has been provided to health workers, and soft skills training has been provided to 727 people from various hospitals so far.
Meanwhile, significant work has also been done under the government’s 100-point agenda commitment to make burn treatment effective. The government has allocated a grant of Rs. 20 million to Kirtipur Hospital for state-of-the-art burn treatment.
In addition, Rs. 200 million has been allocated to establish a burn treatment fund for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84. Rs. 100 million has been allocated to the ministry to replenish the insufficient funds in hospitals. So far, the government has also provided training to 48 health workers from 12 federal hospitals in the initial treatment and management of burns. In addition, budget has been allocated for training other doctors, health workers or nursing staff in burn treatment and management.
Likewise, continuous coordination and collaboration with various health institutions is being carried out to ensure the health care of 2,599 injured people during the GenZ protests.
In addition, the government has implemented the Procedure for Reimbursement to Hospitals for Medical Treatment of Injured People in Various Protests, Conflicts and Natural Disasters in the Country, 2082 BS.
Accordingly, about 8.5 million rupees have been paid to hospitals so far for the medical treatment of injured people in armed conflicts and people’s movements.
As an important step towards good governance, the government has also prepared a report on the problems identified for improving public procurement management and the suggestions for solutions.
Similarly, preparations are underway to formulate a new Health Service Act by amending and integrating the Nepal Health Service Act, 2053 BS, in line with the proposed Civil Service Act.
As an additional step towards good governance, the Ministry of Health has also prepared the Procedure for Selection, Recommendation and Appointment of Officials of Public Bodies Affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Food Hygiene, 2083.
In addition, the draft of the Ministry of Health and Food Safety’s Employee Code of Conduct and the Organization and Management Survey of the Ministry have been prepared, and performance indicators have been prepared with job descriptions of each position in the ministry.
Meanwhile, a toll free number under the ‘Hello Health’ platform has been put into operation for the management of any public complaints related to health. The hotline number 1115 is allocated for health-related complaints while it can also be done by scanning the QR code on the ministry’s website. By the end of Jestha in the fiscal year 2082/83, a total of 6,629 complaints, feedback and service requests were received under the ‘Hello Health’ initiative.
Spokesperson Dr. Adhikari also informed that the government has addressed all the complaints received on ‘Hello Health’ till mid-June.
Similarly, the government has taken effective steps to prevent any negligence or compromise in the quality of service in health services through monitoring from various large hospitals to drug stores. During this period, more than 1000 monitoring of various types has been conducted. Necessary actions, warnings and instructions have also been issued by the ministry after the monitoring.
In addition, the government has effectively addressed the dues in health insurance payment. Since the formation of the government, nearly four billion rupees have been paid for health insurance schemes. A regular monitoring system has been set up to make the overall health service effective.
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