Budget should address health issues caused by poverty: FM

Kathmandu, Apr. 24

Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma Prabhakar said on Sunday that the budget should be prepared to end people’s compulsion to live with various diseases due to poverty.

In a meeting with a team of the Ministry of Health and Population at the Ministry of Finance, he urged the Ministry of Health and Population to propose a budget and programme to alleviate poverty and prevent disease.

He said that a hospital with expert services and a well-equipped laboratory should be constructed in each municipality. He had requested to propose budget and programme to extend the services of Patan Institute of Health Sciences and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj to other places as well.

"The budget should address the issues like expansion of health insurance to the most vulnerable families, improvement of maternity services, creation of a situation where people need not have to go abroad for treatment of complex non-communicable diseases including kidney and liver ailments," said FM Sharma.

At the meeting, Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada said that the postings of doctors and required equipment should be provided to the hospitals with 500 to 1500-bed hospitals.

Likewise, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr. Bishwonath Poudel had suggested creating opportunities and infrastructure for medical tourism, implementing the system of going abroad for treatment only if it was impossible in Nepal, and developing the provincial hospitals as the referral centers.

Meanwhile, the MoF also held discussions with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Sunday morning to expedite the preparation of the budget for the coming fiscal year 2022/23.

In the meeting, FM Sharma said that a programme should be designed to curb the trend of dropping out of school.

“Many of the students who are enrolled in class 1 drop out when they reach grade 5. The number of students reaching higher grades seems to be declining,” he said while urging to find out the reasons behind it and suggesting to create environment where students don’t drop out under any circumstances.

He was of the view that digital technology should be used to change the teaching and learning process with the passage of time. He had instructed to start a programmeto start teaching digital technology in some schools from the forthcoming budget.

Minister for Education Devendra Poudel said that if education is not improved, there will be chaos everywhere. He said that the development of the country should also be supported by the improvement in education sector. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 April 2022.