Kathmandu, November 19

Hospitals in the Valley today urged the people not to panic, saying they have adequate stock of general and life-saving medicines.

Dr Bimal Thapa, director, Minbhawan-based Civil Service Hospital, said they have adequate stock of general and life-saving medicines. “Many hospitals do not have their own drug warehouse and collect medicines from nearby pharmacies. But we have our own pharmacy and have adequate stock of general and life-saving medicines.” They said they store medicines for up to three months.

“As soon as there were rumours that supplies from India would be obstructed, the pharmacy in our hospital imported medicines from suppliers,” he said, adding, “We have emergency stock of medicines that would last for a month. Likewise, we have a dispensary and a warehouse, where we have medicines for disaster and other purposes.”

He further said that due to fuel crisis, the hospital management and cafeteria is suffering a lot. He, however, said that ambulance service was not affected as emergency vehicles were being supplied adequate fuel.

Dr Swayam Prakash Pandit, director, Bir Hospital rubbished romours about shortage of life-saving drugs. He said, “We have not yet run out of essential medicines and we don’t need to panic as the government has already announced to supply us adequate medicines soon.”

Prof Dr Jageshwor Gautam, director, Thapathali Maternity Hospital, said that they had not yet faced scarcity of medicines but were running out of surgical tools.

“Our hospital is different from others. We conduct 20 Cesarean-section delivery per day on an average so we need more surgical supplies,” he said. He informed that if the situation persists, the hospital will be forced to halt C-section delivery in the next 10-12 days. “We had procured some surgical instruments from Japan but it has been stranded at Raxaul border checkpoint due to the ongoing Tarai/Madhes agitation,” he said.

Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, secretary, Ministry of Health and Population, said the government still has adequate stock of medicines in its go-downs for another two months.

“We are facing difficulty transporting medicines from one place to another due to fuel shortage,” said Shrestha, adding, “We are holding talks with foreign suppliers in an effort to ease supply of medicines and surgical instruments.”He informed that the ministry has urged the government to provide adequate fuel to transport medicines and to hold talks with India to lift obstructions on the border.

He further said that the government is also coordinating with International organisations such as World Health Organisations for supply of life saving medicines.