Postal Department diversifying services

By Our Correspondent,Surkhet, Feb. 4: The postal service often criticized for limiting its services to stamps and government generated letters is now expanding its working area.

In addition to stamps and government letters, the post office is now extending its scope to include parcels, packages, passports, driver’s licenses, express mail services, hospital test samples, media monitoring, and payments for public welfare advertisements.

Since December/January, the Postal Directorate in Surkhet, the capital of Karnali Province has been transporting blood, urine, and sputum samples for complex diseases referred from provincial hospitals.

Govinda Prasad Pandey, Postal Director, said that the post office is expanding its service area by not only selling stamps but also transporting disease test samples from hospitals.

According to him, this service has been in practice for only a month. He explained that hospitals collect samples for testing complex diseases and immediately send them through the postal service.

He added that although personal letters have declined with the introduction of modern communication technology, government letters have successfully filled that gap.

In addition, the post office is transporting important documents such as passports, driver’s licenses, and other official papers. He noted that since post offices have been established in all municipalities of Nepal following federalization, they have modernized their services and expanded their scope of work.

Furthermore, tasks such as renewing journalist identity cards, renewing media outlets, and providing and processing payments for public welfare advertisements previously handled by the Press Council and Advertisement Board are now managed by district post offices and provincial postal directorates, providing support to media outlets and journalists, said Postal Director Pandey.

The Post Office and Directorate have been carrying out these tasks since 2022 (2079 BS). He emphasized that while previously people had to travel to Kathmandu for these services, the post office has now increased its credibility by addressing these needs at the district and provincial levels.

Last year, the Postal Directorate paid approximately Rs. 7 million to print and electronic media for public welfare advertisements.

The Directorate transports goods to Humla, Jumla, Mugu, and Dolpa in Karnali via air service from Nepalgunj and delivers to other districts by bus.

Awareness programmes are also being conducted in schools and offices to educate the public about both new and traditional postal services.