In Nepal, 1.15 billion rupees allocated to temples, 30.1 million to medicines — Kathmandu Post
In Nepal’s Sudurpashchim Province, more than 1.15 billion rupees were allocated to 921 temple projects in the current fiscal year. At the same time, only 30.1 million rupees were earmarked for purchasing free medicines for public healthcare facilities, Kathmandu Post reports.
Including funds from the federal government, the province’s total budget for procuring medicines amounts to 50 million rupees, said Janak Dhungana, head of the Provincial Health Supply Management Centre. According to him, between 100 million and 120 million rupees are needed annually to provide the 56 categories of free medicines for which provincial authorities are responsible.
Risk of shortages of essential medicines
The supply centre distributes medicines to district health offices, which in turn supply provincial and district hospitals, basic hospitals, primary healthcare centres and other medical facilities in 88 local units across nine districts.
Jayandra Bogati, the centre’s pharmaceutical inspector, described the current funding as the lowest ever. Dhungana warned that medical facilities would be able to dispense only as many medicines as they could purchase, and shortages could affect even paracetamol.
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According to budget documents, health offices in the districts of Bajura, Bajhang, Baitadi, Doti, Dadeldhura and Achham received 100,000 rupees each for purchasing medicines. Individual hospitals were allocated between 1.3 million and 2 million rupees. Nupraja Giri, a representative of Bajura Hospital, said the facility was unable to procure medicines because the budget arrived late, while free medicines have long been in short supply.
More than a billion rupees for temple projects
The money for temples is intended for the construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance of facilities. The largest allocation, 256.449 million rupees for the construction of 220 temples, went to Kanchanpur District. A total of 170.8 million rupees was allocated for 148 temples in Baitadi, and 159.7 million rupees for 131 temples in Bajhang.
Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment Prakash Bahadur Rawal said he was surprised by the final amount allocated to temples, as he had submitted capital programmes worth 650 million rupees for the entire ministry. Chief Minister Khagaraj Bhatta said that around 60% of people who approached him about programmes and budget funding had requested money for temple construction.
