Chitwan, Sept 27: Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun has stressed on the need of preventing health and education sectors from being commercialised.
In his address to an inaugural session of the 20th anniversary of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital and 15th National Cancer Awareness Day here on Friday, the Vice President said the commercialisation of service-oriented sectors like health and education was unfortunate.
It is necessary the State should increase its investment in sectors like public health to ensure people's easy access to quality healthcare facilities, according to the Vice President. He was of the view of protecting and promoting traditional medical practices like Ayurved, homeopathy and naturopathy and transforming the health sector to a complete service sector.
"There are grudges that ordinary people have no access to private hospitals as they are expensive and their services are unaffordable for them, health service must be accessible for all," he said. The Vice President went on to say that the constitution had guaranteed every citizen's equal right to health services, but it had not been implemented. He further added that treatment of all sorts of diseases including cancer was possible in Nepal.
As he stressed, our efforts should be for seeking treatment at home till the eleventh hour and for that our focus should be on enrichment of resources and technology and on the production of proficient human resources. "Today many cancer patients are visiting India in search of treatment, causing a flow out of Nepali rupees of the country."
Sharing his anecdote about his decision to seek treatment at home for his kidney failure despite the preparations for taking him aboard, he said the treatment was possible within the country and a high morale was necessary to battle against the illness.
He said will power and positive thinking would enable the patients for speedy recovery. He also opined that the state should guarantee basic health facilities to all citizens. Treatment facility should be ensured to each citizen, he asserted.
Speaking in the same programme, State Minister for Health and Population Dr Surendra Kumar Yadav shared that the government was committed to providing quality health services across the nation. He also shared that the government was working out to develop Bharatpur Cancer Hospital and Bharatpur Hospital as Institutes of Health Sciences.
Hospital's Executive Director Dr Bijay Chandra Acharya shared about the future plan and progress report of the hospital.
Member of the House of Representatives (HoR) Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Nepali Congress Chitwan district President Jit Narayan Shrestha, Socialist Party district chair Prem Bhujel among others had addressed the programme.
The hospital was established 20 years ago with the financial support from China.---