KATHMANDU: Although the government has been providing family planning services free of cost and many people are aware about family planning measures, not many of them were found to be availing of the facilities, a survey showed.

In Nepal, the bill related to reproductive health has incorporated family planning within the basic health service.

According to a survey conducted in 2016, more than 90 per cent of the people participating in the survey responded that they knew about family planning services but only 50 per cent of them were using the facility.

At a programme organised in the capital today by the Family Health Division under the Ministry of Health and Population, it was shared that the highest usage rate of family planning devices was in Province 3 and opted by women standing at 49.2 per cent, while the lowest was in Province 4 at 37.3 per cent.

Acting Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Sushil Nath Pyakurel, shared that the Bill related to Reproductive Health Right was in the phase of implementation as, he argued, the family planning service was stipulated in the constitution as a fundamental right.

According to the study, 20 per cent of women of reproductive age (15-49 years ) were compelled to opt for unsafe abortion in lack of family planning services.

Pyakurel asserted, "The government, like availing essentials drugs to the citizens, will prioritise expanding the access of family planning services to one and all."

He informed that MoHP was preparing to station nurses in every school to provide reproductive health education to the students.

Similarly, Director General of the Department of Health Services, Dr Gunaraj Lohani, informed that family planning services would be made further effective to curb unsafe abortion and to provide family planning services to one and all.

Likewise, MoHP Joint-Secretary Mahendra Shrestha spoke of the need for the government to consider increasing investment in family planning sector which, he believed, would contribute in reducing child mortality rate, infant mortality rate, and maternal mortality rate in the country.