Kathmandu, November 18

Health Minister Gagan Thapa today said improving health sector of the country would also be advantageous to other sectors.

The health minister said joint efforts could help solve issues in the health sector within targeted date.

“Issues with health infrastructure, human resources, quality of health service, medication, and financial accessibility are challenging to combat, but every hospital must meet the criteria ordered in the directives,” he said, adding, “If health care centres and hospitals in all 75 districts of the nation are found not following the prescribed guidelines, they will be punished and their registration will be cancelled.”

During the three-day National Health Review programme that ended today, reviews of different departments from various perspectives were conducted.

According to the Department of Drug Administration, an inspection of 3,000 pharmacies and organisations associated with the medical industry had been conducted.

During the fiscal 2014/15, 80.4 per cent of the allocated budget was spent in medicine, while this year 56.9 per cent budget was expended in the same category.

Director of Civil Hospital Dr Bimal Kumar Thapa said all health posts should concentrate on preventive, primitive, and curative health services which are accessible, acceptable, and affordable to the general public.