CHITWAN, AUGUST 22
Minister of State for Health and Population Umesh Shrestha said that 20,000 medical professionals and health workers should be recruited in public health facilities across the country to meet the demand.
At a programme organised at Bharatpur Hospital in Chitwan today, State Minister Shrestha reiterated the launch of vacancies for doctors, nurses and paramedics to make them safe and provide healthcare services in an easy manner.
Pressing for well-equipping public hospitals with all sorts of resources, Shrestha opined that there were many health facilities in Bharatpur because Bharatpur Hospital could not provide all sort of healthcare services. He also asked the hospital management to provide him with a list of equipment it needs and apprise him of whatever issues it was facing.
On a different note, the minister of State assured that 33 per cent of the population in Nepal would be vaccinated against COV- ID-19 by mid-October this year and all eligible beneficiaries would be vaccinated by mid-April next year.
Nepal needed 55 million vaccines and agreements were already inked with various vaccine-producing and supplying countries for 52 million vaccines, according to him. According to him, Nepal could not procure vaccines beyond the capacity of storage facilities.
It can store only 2.5 million at a time, he added. He said PCR tests and antigen tests would be conducted free of cost in a few days.
On the occasion, Nepali Congress Chitwan's President Jit Narayan Shrestha expressed worry over the disparity of remuneration for health workers in Bharatpur Hospital in comparison to the nearby Cancer Hospital.
Likewise, Bharatpur Hospital's coordinator for educational programme Professor Dr Krishna Poudel spoke of the need of the government to open its own medical college.
He also said that the hospital should be upgraded from time to time. Chairperson of Bharatpur Hospital Management Committee Dr Bhojraj Adhikari, pointed out the need for proper waste management at the hospital and to ensure clean drinking water.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 23 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
