Officials at the PHRD warned of severe consequences if the government failed to release additional amount immediately. [break]
The office said that it has sought additional Rs 330 millions with the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) to give continuity to the existing free health service programs for the ongoing fiscal year.
"We have asked the ministry to release additional amount immediately," said Dr Ananda Shrestha, chief of PHRD, adding, "Several free health services programs will be affected if we do not get additional amount."
Meanwhile, a source at MoHP said that the ministry has already approved the amount demanded by the PHRD and has forwarded the related file to the Ministry of Finance. Dr Shrestha said that the office had received Rs 460 million less than the budget last year. Free health service is one among several national pride programs.
According to Rup Narayan Khatiwada, an official at PHRD, construction works of 40 urban health clinics have been halted in this fiscal year. "Due to budget crunch, we cannot release amount for under construction urban health clinics," said Khatiwada.
The PHRD has planned to construct 129 such clinics in 58 municipalities to improve the health situations there. Several study conducted by the government agencies in the past show that overall health status of cities are poor compared to the remote villages.
The PHRD also said that it has been unable to allocate budget to the district public health offices to purchase free medicines. Dr Shrestha concedes that training of Female Community Health Volunteers have also been affected due to budget crunch.
The MoHP has been distributing 40 types of essential medicines free of cost to all through PHRD. Patients can get such medicines from district hospitals, primary health care centers, health posts and sub-health posts across the country.
Medicines like citamol, antibiotics, iron-supplement, oral rehydration are among of the essential medicines the government has been providing free of cost.
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