Kathmandu, April 17, 2006

Lack of life saving medicines, most of which are imported from India and third countries, has hit hospitals and medical stores due to the continuing strike of the seven political parties that entered the twelfth day today. The strike has affected the import of life saving medicines and other type of drugs, importers informed. Kishor Pradhan of Cipla Instyle Trading Concern (CITC), importer of medicines from India, talking to The Himalayan Times said, import has come to a complete halt since April 6 which has created a shortage of medicines in the country. The country has run short of drugs like heart medicine and saline, Pradhan said. Nepal heavily depends on import of drugs which meets about 70 per cent of the demand. Some of the imported medicines are codeine, morphine, methadone, among others. If the current strike continues for a few more days, it would create havoc for medicine supply in the country, Pradhan warned. Talking about the shortage of imported drugs, Kishor Dev Acharya, chief of Pharmacy Department of TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj said that the ongoing strike has already created a shortage of ‘imported medicines’. He said that Nepal has to import most medicines that comes under the category of ‘life saving drugs’. Nepal’s domestic production can meet only about 30 per cent of the total demand.

Commercial banks to remain open

Private commercial banks have kept up their services today, despite the general strike called by the seven party alliance entering the twelfth day today. State-owned banks like Nepal Bank Ltd and Rastriya Banijya Bank however have remained closed due to the employees taking part in the protest programme and the employees’ association calling to halt services. Citing security reasons, none of the banks wanted to be named or quoted. But members of management at various private commercial banks averred that they would continue to provide banking services. However, they urged the government to provide them security to prevent mobs from vandalising and disrupting their services. A group of hooligans vandalised the Himalayan Bank Ltd, Pulchowk branch yesterday, which caused some private commercial banks to pull down their shutters. However, the situation has returned to normal today. “Banking services cannot be brought to a standstill. If we close our services, people would run short of everything. It will hamper the very

movement that wants us to shut down now,” said an officer of one of the leading private commercial banks. Bankers agreed that the number of people coming for withdrawal has significantly increased in the last couple of days, but also said that there have been transactions in deposits too.