The government had recent decided that the central and regional hospitals across the country must run their own low-cost pharmacy. The oldest hospital in the country has already set up the pharmacy, installed the software and even published vacancy to hire staff.[break]
"We have written to the ministry to release the seed money to run the dispensary," Dr Buland Thapa, the hospital director said, adding that they need around four to five million rupees.
Director Thapa informed that the poor patients do not even have to pay Maximum Retail Price (MRP) for the medicines once the pharmacy comes in operation.
He further said that some privately run pharmacies operating in the hospital premises have warned to pull out if it runs it own fair-priced pharmacy. The hospital has been generating millions of rupees by leasing out spaces to the private pharmacies.
Dr Thapa said that the hospital was ready to reduce the rent amount if the private parties agreed to give a fair deal to its clients. “Our pharmacy will help check the anomalies in these pharmacies,” he added.
The private pharmacy operators have been fleecing patients, most of whom are economically as well as socially marginalized, to make fast money, besides paying a hefty rent to the hospital management.
“Yes some of these pharmacies charge exorbitant if they find the patients poor and in an emergency situation,” the hospital director admits. “But they can´t justify it, saying they have to pay a rent of million rupees a month."
The Manmohan Cardiothoracic, Vascular and Transplant Centre and the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital at Maharajgunj have already started their fair-priced pharmacies.