By Madhusudan Timilsina, Kavre, July 15: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister People Health Check-up Programme has come to a halt in Kavre district.

The programme, which was introduced to identify the risk of non-communicable diseases and to provide appropriate consultation and treatment to the people, was implemented in mid-March.

Six municipalities of the district had initiated the programme to provide health check-up to the people in Dhulikhel Hospital on every Saturday.

Dr. Narendra Kumar Jha, health administrator of the District Health Office, said that the budget of Rs. 4.8 million allotted for the programme had frozen due to the pandemic.

According to Jha, the programme which started from March 14 couldn’t be continued due to the COVID-19 spread.

Under the programme, health check-up facilities were provided in Banepa, Dhulikhel, Panauti, Panchkhal, Namobuddha and Mandandeupur Municipalities.

The Bagmati State Ministry of Social Development had put the CM People Health Check-up Programme on test in Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Chitwan, Sindhuli and Bhaktapur districts in the last Fiscal Year (FY) to minimise the risk posed by non-communicable diseases.

From the FY 2019/20, the State ministry had implemented the programme in all 13 districts of Bagmati State.

In Kavre, six municipalities had aimed to conduct health check-up of 4,300 citizens. Of the 4,300 targeted people, 1,850 check-ups were supposed to be conducted free of cost and 2,400 check-ups were to be conducted at 25 per cent discount.

The programme stated that those receiving the identity of poor distributed by the government, self-declared poor families, those belonging to minority and indigenous groups, families of martyrs, victims of the armed conflict, women health volunteers and victims

of the people’s movement would be tested free of cost under the recommendation of their respective ward chairmen.

They would have been receiving check-up facilities for 16 types of diseases.