KATHMANDU, March 2: Health Minister Pradeep Paudel has warned that government hospitals can no longer claim they don’t have medicines covered by the Health Insurance Board. During a monitoring visit to Ilam Hospital on Sunday, he said that hospitals must ensure the availability of prescribed insurance medicines.
Emphasizing that refusing to provide medicines is still illegal, he asserted that prescribed medicines must be mandatory in hospitals. The government and the Health Insurance Board have prescribed 98 types of medicines. He urged that the prescribed medicines be made mandatory.
Medicines meant for rural areas 'disappear' on the way
Minister Paudel said that government hospitals no longer have the right to say no to medicines prescribed by doctors. He said that the Ministry of Health has taken necessary steps for that.
He further added that although there are problems in some insurance management systems, it is being improved. He also committed that the Ministry of Health will push the work to upgrade district hospitals.
