Taplejung,
June 5
Government is supposed to distribute 40 kinds of medicines through public health facilities like health centres and health posts. But in rural areas of Taplejung district, free drugs are hard to get.
Public health facilities based in remote parts of the district lack essential drugs, even for minor health conditions like fever and common cold.
In Khewang VDC of the district, for example, locals are facing hardships due to the lack of essential drugs in public health facilities.
A Khewang local, Umesh Gautam, says not even half of the 40 drugs, which government is supposed to provide for free, are available in local health posts.
Moreover, Khewang is not connected with the road network.
Baburam Mukhiya, assistant health worker at the health post in Khewang, started providing services to locals recently, Gautam says, adding: But absence of drugs has hindered medical treatment.
AHW Mukhiya says he has to refer most of the patients to health institutions in district headquarters and other places for want of medicines at the health post. Mukhiya says the health post has only a few medicines like Cetamol, De-Cold and Brufen.
Locals say the district public health office does not supply medicines to the health post citing supply-related problems and other factors. Because of this, health services are beyond our reach, they say.
Due to the absence of drugs, patients have to be taken to hospitals in Taplejung district headquarters and Panchthar district on stretchers and on bamboo baskets. For want of timely treatment, many patients die en route to hospital.
