Ramechhap, October 15

Scarcity of medicines at health facilities has hit the patients hard for the past three months in Ramechhap.

Hundreds of patients are facing problems due to shortage of medicines provided by the government free of cost. Patients visiting health facilities in the district are compelled to return home empty-handed as all the health facilities in the district have run out of stock of medicines. The scarcity of life-saving drugs has adversely hit patients at Lyanglyang Health Centre of Ramechhap Municipality.

In-charge of the health centre Goma Magar said the health centre had not received any medicines for the last three months. “The government had announced it would provide 35 types of medicines free of cost, but there are only 15 kinds of medicines at the health centre,” she added.

Health workers said most of the health facilities in the district had been facing drug crunch for quite a few days now. They added that patients suffering from fever, cough, common cold and diarrhoea, among other seasonal diseases, had increased at all health centres of the district. The health workers also said they did not have medicines for children.

Meanwhile, local people’s representatives said the medicine crisis had hit patients hard due to inordinate delay in the process of buying and supplying medicines.

District Health Office, Ramechhap, claimed that the medicines would reach all health facilities in the district within a few days.