KATHMANDU, March 11: Several donor agencies, who have signed memorandum with the government to reconstruct demolished health facilities, have decided to backtrack their commitment after the concerned authorities failed to provide them land.
Due to debate among locals over the relocation of health facilities, the government has not been able to provide land to the agencies to construct new health facilities.
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake of April 25 last year had completely destroyed over 400 health facilities and partially damaged over 700 across the country. Officials at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said that several health facilities have to be relocated as the lands where the existing or destroyed health facilities have been situated have either been buried by landslides or are at high risk of being buried.
"Due to the indecision of the local authorities, several donor agencies have decided to retreat," Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, spokesperson at the MoHP, said. He informed that the MoHP has signed memorandum with various aid agencies to reconstruct the quake-demolished health facilities.
"We have signed memorandum to reconstruct almost all the demolished health facilities," he said adding that due to the inability to provide land, the aid organizations have been retreating.
According to Shrestha, aid agencies have already withdrawn form about a dozen contracts.
Meanwhile, the MoHP has leased some health facilities of remote villages to the NGOs.
"We have tasked them to run the health facilities in public-private partnership (PPP) model. The Ministry will provide grants on the basis of the performance of the organizations,” added Shrestha.
Shrestha expressed hopes that the problems of absence of health workers and medicines will end if the management is looked after by the NGOs.
Related story
Municipalities without facilities
