Ensure Health Care For Every Citizen

People are very conscious of their health matters, be it in developed rich countries or in the poorer other regions. Even in the developed world, health facilities are very expensive and in places like our own country, many are either too far away from good health posts or they simply cannot afford to go to the expensive private hospitals in many urban sectors and specially Kathmandu, the capital city, where most good hospitals are located and skilled medical officers and other health workers are stationed. It is good to see many media outlets these days, including this daily, where much information of health issues are printed or broadcast and experts tell the people what they should do to keep themselves in a better healthy state. 

The sad part in Nepal is that most skilled doctors and even nurses, do not want to go to the remote areas to provide their services. That is why many people suffer and may even die because the health posts or even regional hospitals do not have skilled and enough manpower. The government and also many international organisations have properly equipped these hospitals, but lack of skilled manpower has become a major problem in many places. It was, however, a welcome news to hear that the government has decided to provide at least one nurse in every school in the country. This would mean the students would not only be in good hands, but nurses would also get better opportunities for working in their own country. 

Low salaries

According to reports, nurses are paid very low salaries in private hospitals and thus they prefer to go abroad to work. By working here with government decided salaries, which is quite handsome, they would be contributing to the health sector, and fulfil the first aim of why they chose to work in the medical field. It can also be added that they would be helping their own fellow citizens rather than some foreigners if they opt to work outside the country. The same can be said of the doctors or other medical hands, who have worked and studied hard for getting their education and skills, but it will be better if they work in the country itself and take care of thousands of the populace who have to suffer because there are no manpower in many health posts and hospitals here.

But the efforts of the government alone are not enough. The government has given different facilities and better chances of promotion in their ranks as well as gaining skills in other countries through different trainings, but still such a campaign of the government has not been fully successful. So apart from the government, the individuals who have chosen to work in the medical sector, must also change their basic thought of only working in the cities, specially Kathmandu, and instead if they are really ethical in their profession, they should also provide their services in remote areas, where people die of even simple health problems which could have been cured if there were better medical manpower in those areas.

Forget the remote areas, it has been reported in media outlets that the oldest hospital of the country, Bir Hospital, which lies in the heart of Kathmandu, has many modern equipment worth billions of rupees, but they have been dumped in makeshift store rooms because there are no skilled manpower to use them. This is ridiculous. Even in the quite famous Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, one grieving patient told this writer that some sophisticated machines donated by friendly countries were mostly unused because no one knew how to operate them. When this pen pusher asked a medical attendant there whether they had been given any orientation class to operate this machine, the reply was ‘No’. 

This is a problem not only in hospitals but in almost all parts of the country. The do-good donors are also to be blamed, but more to be blamed are our decision-makers in virtually all the sectors, who send their staff for useless seminars and meetings abroad, but do not have the sense to bring some experts to guide them in properly using technical facilities for the welfare of the people and the nation. 

Promise 

But to come back to the poor management in our health sector, we can also blame the doctors, nurses and other medical workers, who prefer to work abroad rather than look after the health of their own fellow citizens. Worse is the fact that many top level doctors are employed by government hospitals, but they only draw the salary and perks from these institutions, while they spend more time in working for private hospitals where they can make more money. That is one of the reasons why even junior doctors and nurses refuse to go to remote areas, as the income is better in the cities rather than in remote areas. What they don’t seem to remember is the promise they made while entering the medical profession, where they commit themselves to help the needy. 

And in our country, the ‘needy’ are there mostly in remote areas, because of the difficult terrain of the nation. It would also not be out of place to mention here that, even those who live in the cities, including Kathmandu, do not know to which hospital to go or to meet which doctor for their disease. A normal physician is OK for normal complaints, but where does one go when specialist advice is needed? It would be good if some sort of a booklet giving information about the doctors and what they specialise in is brought out so that patients could approach them instead of going to the wrong places.

These are just some memoirs of an aged man who has met different people and who himself is in frail health due to age, but sincerely, this writer wishes that everyone remembers that the health of every individual, is as precious as that of any so called ‘VIPs’. That is why the health system here should be improved and be within the reach of every citizen, rich or poor.

(The author is former chief editor of this daily.)