Health ministry gears up to resume operation of abandoned basic hospitals

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, June 5: Minister for Health and Population, Pradeep Paudel, has initiated preparations to start resuming the operation of basic hospitals from the upcoming July/August, which have not been operational due to a lack of resources.

The number of such hospitals that have not been operational or operating at full capacity despite their construction is 57. There are plans to build more such hospitals in the new fiscal year as well.

Minister Poudel had been proactive in operating hospitals built at the local level with a capacity of five, 10, and 15 beds, as those lacked standards for health facility operation.

Recently, the ministry has formulated the Basic Hospital Operations Standards, 2082.

 Now, Minister Poudel has initiated the preparation of an action plan to manage essential resources, including manpower, equipment, medicines, and reagents, for such hospitals based on the standards set by the federal government.

For this, Minister Poudel has formed a task force under the coordination of Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel, Chief of the Policy Planning and Monitoring Division of the ministry. 

Spokesperson of the Health Ministry Prakash Budhathoki said that the ministry has allocated a budget of about one billion rupees for the construction and operation of such hospitals for the upcoming fiscal year. Budget allocation now will make it easier to operate basic hospitals.