Kathmandu : CPN-UML lawmaker in the National Assembly, the Upper House of the Parliament Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa also known as Parvati Rawal has raised significant concerns regarding collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Population and the World Health Organisation (WHO) for health programmes in Nepal, as well as allegations of political favouritism in WHO Nepal's appointments.
Raising the issue in Parliament Parvati highlighted a previously successful programme organised by the Ministry of Health and Population and WHO in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, wherein representatives from all levels - parliamentary, provincial and local - including National Assembly members were briefed about the pandemic. The programme was deemed highly effective and the collaboration among WHO, Ministry of Health and Population and people' representatives, which was expected to continue, did not go beyond the pandemic.
Rawal questioned why such a programme was subsequently abandoned and whether the Ministry of Health owns up responsibility for this lapse.
She added that WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had praised the programme and that this innovative initiative, particularly the collaboration with people's representatives, had also been spoken about at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Rawal also expressed concerns about appointments in WHO Nepal which she claimed were allegedly influenced by political favouritism, with the intention of securing government awards for the organisation.
Rawal queried whether the Ministry of Health has conducted an audit of WHO Nepal's practices during the COVID-19 period to address these complaints.
She told THT that WHO should not conduct any health programme in Nepal directly because the government should have its say on the budget that is made available to Nepal for its health programmes.
"If we allow WHO to run health programmes in Nepal directly, a large part of the money that is invested in Nepal for health programmes will go to foreign countries in the form of foreign employees, including advisers' pay and perks," she added.
She also said that the government should also have its say in the WHO's hiring for Nepal programmes. She said if WHO continued to run health programmes in Nepal itself and if it continued to hire human resources on the basis of political favouritism, it would go against its own goal of creating healthy citizens.
