JE patients made to buy 'free medicines'

DHANGADHI, Sept 3: Japanese Encephalitis (JE) patients admitted at Seti Zonal Hospital have been denied free medicines despite the existence of a government policy that guarantees free of cost medicines to patients affected by an epidemic. In Nepal, a disease is considered an epidemic if it affects more than 10 people at the same time.



Five people have died from the disease in the hospital in the past 45 days while additional 49 patients are said to have contracted the disease. [break]



“The hospital has not been providing any free medicine,” said Ashok Bista, who brought his wife Bhagirathi a week ago for treatment. “I have already spent ten thousand rupees on medicine,” he added.



The relatives of other patients have similar stories to tell. “My sister was admitted 12 days ago. The money I borrowed for her treatment has been used up. The hospital does not provide even saline bottles for free,” said Amar Tamata of Jogbudha, Dadeldhura. Tamata has already spent over Rs 6,000 on medicines for his sister Basanti.



Lok Bahadur Chaudhary, whose son Santosh is undergoing treatment for the same disease, also said that he has been made to pay for all the medicines.



In addition to providing free treatment to patients affected by epidemic, the government has allocated budget to the hospital to distribute free medicines to the poor. But the hospital has deprived even the poor of such benefits.



Dr Ganesh Singh, medical superintendent of the hospital, confirmed that the hospital has a policy of providing free medicines to JE patients. He, however, said that the distribution of free medicines has not been possible as the hospital does not have a separate ward for JE patients.



“If we provide all the medicines for free to JE patients, other patients will also demand the same. We won´t be able to deal with such a situation,” he said. Singh said he had no knowledge of JE patients being made to pay for saline bottles.



Mahendra Shrestha, director of Regional Health Directorate, said, “The hospital must provide medicines, including the very expensive ones, for free to the JE patients.” He informed that the government has provided the hospital with a budget for providing 40 different medicines to patients for free.



According to Shrestha, JE patients should not be made to pay for saline bottles.



Most of the free medicines, a source claimed, reach private medicine stores outside the hospital. The source said hospital staff are involved in this malpractice.

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