Several doctors from India, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Africa and the United States have congregated in Kathmandu for a three day conference on health issues in Nepal. The theme of the confabulation, “health, human rights and conflict,” is a fitting one in the present situation of the country. Health facilities in rural areas of Nepal are over-stretched and inaccessible. That has been further worsened by the on-going conflict, whose impact on the health scenario in Nepal is no different than that suffered by many other essential service sectors. Beyond that, the theme embraces human rights too. Although the right to seek medical treatment squarely falls within human rights, how this conference aims to address the rights concerns is important but it is a political issue. But there are other things that the doctors could actually agree to make the health system more organised and extend reliable health services to rural areas.

Too many conferences and symposia are held in Kathmandu. But not all of those meetings have always achieved what they set out to do. The medical fraternity, however, should prove different by doing something concrete for those left out, the poor and especially those in the remote regions. People in far-flung areas continue to die of common ailments like diarrhoea, dysentery, malaria, and other diseases, which, if treated in time, are entirely preventable. Then there are other challenges such as shortage of medical staff, medicines and equipment both in urban as well as rural areas. Added to it are the complications heralded by the wide scale prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Immunisation programmes against preventable diseases is no less important. The woes of the medical sector are further compounded by drug dealers, who have their own difficulties, but nevertheless affect the overall health services in the country.

Medical colleges in recent years have been producing more and more doctors, but almost all of them tend to reside in urban areas, leaving the state of medical services in the countryside almost unchanged. And quacks have only made things difficult. It is important to produce qualified manpower. With it must come the dedication to the service in such a vital sector as medicine, a trait that a number of patients say is diminishing in doctors. The problem of lack of funds to maintain vital equipment in public hospitals is another matter. On the government’s part, the disagreement over VAT being charged for even essential medical equipments needs to be looked into while taking all the care to deliver health services to the people. The real success of the conference will depend on whether it could do something to improve the medical services in the country.