New Minister of State for Health vows to address health sector issues

Kathmandu, March 24 (RSS) : The government is committed to meeting the commitment made by Nepal to end tuberculosis by 2030. Minister of State for Health and Population, Padma Kumari Aryal said this at a programme organised by the National Tuberculosis Center (NTC), Thimi Saturday on the occasion of the World TB Day which is observed on March 24 every year.

The Minister of State pledged to sort out problems existing in the health sector. She laid a foundation stone of a Chest Disease Specialist Hospital Saturday itself. The facility will have 300 beds and will come into operation within the next three years. Rs 290 million is expected to cost for its construction.

Health Secretary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary insisted on combined efforts to end TB. “Those TB patients who are yet to visit health centers should be searched and brought to medication,” she asserted.

On the occasion, House of Representatives member Mahesh Basnet from Bhaktapur-2 promised to eradicate TB from the district and establish it as the first ‘TB-free’ district in the country. He urged the government to provide 40 ropani of land to the district-based Human Organ Transplant Center and increase the number of beds in the Bhaktapur District Hospital with management of sufficient human resources within the next three months.

NTC executive director Dr. Kedar Narsing KC said some 45 thousand new TB cases appear in Nepal every year and in last fiscal year, a total of 31,764 new patients were identified who are under medication.

“Still 13 thousand new patients need to be identified and 28 thousand both new and old patients should be brought to treatment system.”

On the occasion, SAARC Secretary General Amjad Hussain B.Sial, World Health Organisation representative Dr. Jos Vandelaer and Madhyapur Municipality mayor Madan Sundar Shrestha echoed on the need of collective efforts to end TB.