Bajura, December 12

The state-owned health facilities in Bajura have been reeling under acute shortage of drugs that are provided free of cost by the government.

Store keeper at District Health Office, Bajura, Tejsingh Saud, said all health centres and health facilities in the district had run out of government-pledged medicines. “Health centres in far flung areas lack even basic drugs such as cetamol,” Saud added.

Around 500 patients on average visit as many as 27 health centres across the district on a daily basis.

Health workers said they had to return the patients empty-handed for want of drugs.

Dr Durga Maharjan, at the District Health Office, said they were forced to refer patients to private hospitals due to lack of medicines in government health facilities. “With the onset of cold, patients suffering from diarrhoea, common cold and typhoid have increased. But, we have to refer them to private clinics and hospitals for want of medicine,” Maharjan complained.

The government had pledged to provide 70 types of medicines to the district hospitals, 58 to health centres and 42 to health posts across the country free of cost.

Senior AHW at Kolti Primary Health Centre Janak Rawal said his centre was experiencing drug crunch as the government would not supply the required drugs.

Bajura district receives drugs worth Rs 8 million from the purchase made by the district hospital and supply from the region and the centre in a year.

Rawal said drugs worth Rs 8 million was only enough for six months. “Bajura requires drugs worth over Rs 20 million per year,” Rawal added.