Access To Healthcare

Lucrative salaries, better living standard and prospect of career development outweigh unemployment, lack of skill development opportunities and low remuneration faced by health professionals of Nepal, triggering them to migrate to advanced countries like the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The migration of health professionals jeopardises the health system and this situation of brain drain may one day lead to a critical shortage of health workers. On one hand, there is a tendency of Nepali health professionals going abroad for greener pastures, the majority of them staying inside the country are concentrated within the urban areas, on the other. Ironically, they are not willing to work in the remote areas where the reach of health services is pathetic. 

Although Article 35 of the constitution states every citizen shall have the right to free basic health services from the state, and no one shall be deprived of the emergency health services, and every citizen shall have equal access to health service, many Nepalis are not getting these services as envisioned by the national charter. Poor, marginalised and those living in remote areas are more deprived of easy access to health facilities compared to the urban residents. In this context, Minister for Health and Population Mohan Bahadur Basnet has assured that no Nepali would die due to a lack of medical treatment in any part of the country. This is a very positive pledge that creates confidence in the citizens. Minister Basnet mentioned that while speaking at a function organised to make public the achievement of 100 days since he took up the ministerial office. 

Similar assurance came from Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who was addressing the same function the other day. The Prime Minister said that people’s rights to health services would be ensured as envisaged by the constitution. Translating such a dream into reality requires necessary resources and the Prime Minister promised to allocate more funds for the health sector. The government needs to make sure that the money collected under the tobacco tax is available for appropriate programmes to be executed under the Ministry of Health and Population. Regarding the vital resources for sound health services, human resource is equally important like financing. The country’s health manpower needs to be retained and new schemes should be rolled out to bring back those who have gone abroad to work for prospects of better opportunities.

Availing health services to everyone, including the poor and the needy, is the call of the hour. And for this to happen, the existing ills of the system need to be cured. It is ironical that some political leaders receive medical treatments abroad at state expenses even for minor illnesses that could be treated in Nepal. The privilege needs to be directed to those who lack regular income and have nobody to take care of. It is now imperative for the government to devise policies so that the poor and disadvantaged too can have equal access to health services. The anomalies created by over commercialisation of health services should come to an end and the state needs to invest adequately to operate robust health facilities with special discounts for the poor.