KATHMANDU, AUGUST 30

Minister of State for Health and Population, Umesh Shrestha, said that preparations were under way to expand service related to maternity and gynaecology by building hospitals for gynaecology in all seven provinces.

'There is a need to expand the health service as increasing number of women are dealing with health problems,' he said while addressing the 62nd anniversary of Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital here today.

Viewing that the hospital should be developed as a health care and research centre for female, he said the ministry was at work to equip it. 'Possibilities are enough when resources of the hospital are fully utilised. The hospital should demand with the ministry what it lacks. We will address its demands.'

Initiatives have been taken in importing four million doses of Moderna and six million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.

So far, 20 per cent of the country's total population have been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines and 13 per cent the second dose.

At the programme, health secretary Dr Roshan Pokharel said the ministry was working to further systematise the maternity hospital.

According to him, the ministry will help the hospital get 700 more beds.

Kathmandu metropolis Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya pledged to help upgrade the hospital.

He said the metropolis has already provided 40 ventilators to the hospital and will provide five more after the equipment arrived from China.

Hospital director Dr Sangeeta Kaushal Mishra shared information about the hospital planning to add additional 200 beds. Similarly, the hospital has been offering 'Human Milk Bank' and 'test-tube baby' facilities.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 31 2021, of The Himalayan Times.