Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, July 22:

Nikshya SJB Rana, Assistant Minister for Health and Population, today said the ministry will soon introduce new programmes for the needy section of the population, which mostly lives in remote rural areas. He said his ministry would now focus on delivering the services rather than resorting to ‘lip service’. The motive, he said, is to provide basic health services to all. “The health ministry will strengthen its information system to improve the health facilities,”

said Rana at a seminar on ‘role of health in foreign employment’ organised by Health Professional Association-Nepal (HPAN). Expressing his committment to eradicate the syndicate of a limited medical centers in carrying the medical examinations of people seeking foreign jobs, Rana said medical centers need to cater quality services living up to the international standard.

Gopal Dahal of HPAN said that there is a need of long-term national policy to provide an opportunity to all the medical centres to conduct the medical examination of foreign job seekers and discourage the syndicate of a few medical centres. Dr Meera Ojha, chief of Medical Service Division at the ministry, said medical laboratories need to improve the quality of their services. According to a recent report submitted by a monitoring panel, just over 50 per cent of medical centres and diagonistic laboratories meet the standard. Ojha said that as soon as a thorough study was done on the report, the list of the medical centers, which are eligible to conduct the medical examination of the foreign job seekers, will be made public. Currently only 16 medical centres are eligible to conduct the medical check-up of foreign job seekers.