Kathmandu. It has been found that the civil hospital, which has been purchasing machines worth crores of rupees and making those machines useless, is also setting up various test services and eating the commission.
The Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission is starting a serious investigation against the civil hospital after purchasing faulty machines worth more than 100 million and keeping them. Even after the investigation by the authority, there has been no decrease in the number of other settings of the hospital.
The hospital administration is forcing the patients to be sent out by stopping the tests which incur various expensive fees. After having to go out for expensive tests and even to take medicines, the service users have started to get worried. The hospital administration has created a situation where the client has to go out for some expensive tests in the setting itself. The affected staff and the general public have said that the hospital has been seriously negligent and arbitrarily in service delivery.
Sources claim that even though it is possible in the hospital, the gangs are active inside the hospital by forcing the clients to go outside for expensive tests. The employees who come from difficult and remote areas for treatment have complained that they are not able to get convenient and reliable services.
Ram Bahadur Magar, who came from Salyan for treatment at the Civil Hospital a few days ago, said that he felt very sad during the blood test. Although the doctor of the hospital had written a prescription to test vitamin D and vitamin 12, when he went to the hospital’s lab and counter, he was told to come a few days later for both tests and even though he came on the same day, Magar expressed his pain. Magar expressed his anger at the counter and the lab after he was sent back saying that whenever he came, he would come back in two or three days. “I have been suffering for 10 days. Whenever I come, I am told to come back in two or three days. When I come, I am told to come back after two or three days. I was forced to come back four or five times,” Magar said to Nepal Newspaper.
According to the sources, although the hospital is supposed to provide all the services, sometimes the machines for the expensive tests are broken and sometimes the chemicals needed for the tests have run out. It is said that many patients who come from far away are forced to return home immediately due to this type of excess in the hospital. The victims said that due to this kind of negligence of the hospital, they spend thousands of rupees unnecessarily when they stay in hotels for weeks.
The patient has been sent back saying that the chemical has run out during various tests, and the machine has broken today, so he will come back in two or three days. After two or three days, when I went to the hospital again, I was told that the machine had not been made yet and the chemicals had not arrived. According to the victim, the hospital does such wrong business when expensive tests are required.
The Auditor General’s office has also raised questions saying that the service delivery of the hospital has not been effective and there have been many errors. The conclusion of the General Account is that widespread fraud was seen in the machine purchase process and operation process. The General Accounting Office said that the hospital, which was established to target civil servants, could not do so because the area and quality of service delivery should be increased so that civil servants and their families do not have to go to other hospitals for treatment.
Bullying in medicine, pharmacy opaque
According to the Auditor General’s Office, it has been found that the private hospitals are also involved in mischief in the sale and distribution of medicines. Although it is mentioned in the hospital pharmacy service directory 2078 that the hospital will operate its own pharmacy service to provide accessible and quality services to patients and clients, it has been found that the pharmacy operated by the hospital is only in name.
Last year, the hospital published the supply and cost estimation of 213 types of surgical items and published tender notices for 152 items, for the procurement of 138 types of medicines for oncology medicine, only 50 items were contracted.
Similarly, only 239 of the bids were invited for the purchase of 350 types of medicines. As 152 types of medicines demanded by patients and clients are not available in the pharmacy, the patients are in trouble. Similarly, the hospital has not been able to provide essential medicines such as anti-cancer, heart-related, high blood pressure, high-level antibiotics, etc. According to the General Account, even the audit report of the pharmacy has not been transparent.