Dhangadhi, July 28

Patients in Seti Zonal Hospital Dhangadi have no option but to buy medicines from private clinics in Kailali, despite the fact that the government provides medicines free of cost in the hospital itself.

Patients complained that health workers direct them to buy medicines from private drug stores. “We have not even been supplied with common medicines that the state is supposed to provide us,” said Pusparaj Bhatta of Dhangadi Sub-metropolis.

Bhatta had reached the hospital for his son’s treatment.

Almost all the relatives of patients have complained of this problem. This practice has affected the poor and the elderly the most. “We can easily get medicines in village health posts,” said Dabal Bom of Nigali, Kailali.

Staffers at the hospital said the problem has arisen because health workers operate private clinics outside of the hospital and are provided with a commission for sending patients to clinics to buy drugs.

Kailali Civil Society Representative Dan Bahadur Rawal said patients don’t trust the government facility as the hospital administration has not rectified the problem yet though the victims have complained to the authority frequently.

Meanwhile, hospital medical Superintendent Dr Surya Bahadur Gurung claimed that the hospital provides all types of medicines that the state provides free of cost. “The hospital has been providing 70 types of medicines to patients,” he informed.

He added that the hospital could not provide sufficient medicine as the number of patients had increased.