Twenty-three-year-old Lama, who works at Rakta Kali brick kiln in Naubise, said that she does not have time and interest for antenatal check-up.
“I got examined in my own village previously when I was carrying my first two children but not this time,” said Lama, a mother of two, adding, “I do not have time and interest to visit health post, which is very far away from here.”
The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) provides Rs one hundred for each antenatal visit and a pregnant woman is supposed to visit health facility at least four times during pregnancy. Lama said that the allowance provided by the government is too little and she is not interest in it.
Lama and her husband moved to the brick kiln with their two children after their home got demolished by the devastating earthquake of April 25 last year. She said that she has to toil hard at the brick kiln to feed her two children. Her husband, who works in the same place, spends most of his earnings in alcohol, cigarettes and in gambling. “My children will not get food if I do not work,” she complained.
Like Lama, hundreds of families have moved to brick kilns in Dhading and Nuwakot districts after the devastating quake left them homeless. Apart from the pregnant women, a lot of children in the brick kilns are being deprived of health care services.
Lama's husband Raju said that he and his family were compelled to take refuge at the brick kiln as they had nowhere to go. “We have nothing left at our own village,” he said, adding that he is also deprived of the government's relief as he is not in the village. “To get relief, we have to stay in the village. But the relief provided by the government is not enough to survive there,” he complained.
Like Lama, patients in the quake-hit districts seem reluctant to visit health care facilities following the quake, as services in the health facilities are not effective. Most of the health facilities have been operating in makeshift tents or from the damaged buildings.
“Health care services provided by the district hospital is alike to the services of health post,” Bishop Ram Shrestha, chief of District Public Health Office (DPHO), Nuwakot said. He concedes that the number of patients visiting the health facilities running from the makeshift tents have dropped by more than half.
Health experts have warned of serious setback in the heath target made by the country in last few years. “Patients are less interested in the government allowances and to the health facilities run by the government,” said Dr Shyam Raj Uppreti, a health expert. He said that the concerned authorities should give priority to reconstruct destroyed health facilities and make the services effective.
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