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Kathmandu Thursday December 28, 2000 Paush 13, 2057.
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Ensure public health
The report concerning the ill-equipped
hospital of Kalikot, a mid-western remote hill district, has underscored the fact that the
government is yet to make good on its promises. This means the condition of the state-run
hospitals has turned from bad to worse as a result of failure on the part of the
government to improve public health service. If the government had made efforts to
recognise the unfortunate state of district hospitals, things would have definitely been
different from what it is today.
It is sad but true that thousands of
villagers in this Maoist-hit district are suffering from inadequate health services and
their miseries seem nowhere nearing an end. The health picture of this district provides
enough evidence to believe that it is grim and gloomy. The district hospital is no better
off than a primary health centre due to lack of diagnostic facilities. As a result,
hundreds of patients are forced to go as far as Surkhet and India for treatments. This has
proved to be very expensive for those who reside in one of the country’s poorest
districts. And the poor, who cannot afford treatment outside Kalikot, are caught between
the devil and the deep sea.
The disheartening report of Kalikot is just a
drop in the ocean of woes, plaguing the whole country. The situation is almost similar
everywhere whether it is in Jiri, Humla, Jumla or Solukhumbu - all far-flung and
impoverished districts. For instance, about six months ago in Jiri, political and social
workers, along with the residents, exerted pressure on the government to revive the
district’s hospital, which had remained dysfunctional for more than ten years. Their
pleadings, no matter how persistent, are yet to be realized.
The deteriorating health status of the
country can largely be attributed to a miserly budget allocation and the scant attention
given to this sector. The government allocates less than 5 percent of the total budget for
the health sector every year. In developed countries, health status is taken as a
yardstick to measure the well-being of people and the overall national progress. The case
is, however, sadly different here. Child mortality is high, not to talk of maternal
deaths. Every year, hundreds of people die of preventable or curable diseases. Plagued as
it is with a number of problems, the dearth of qualified doctors makes health conditions
even worse.
The government must recognize that its onus is
to establish well-equipped-hospitals and provide better health service to all. More
investment in this sector can only improve the service. However, the burning question is
when and where this health sector will figure in the government’s deficit budget.
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