[Love Nepal]

hi all,
First of all its a really great thing that we young medical professionals of nepal(living in nepal or far away) are starting to debate about what should be our healthcare policy.Its a very healthy tradition that Xenomed has started and I hope it will be continued.

How I feel about it is:

Health insurance is not an issue at all right now.When there is not even one doctor in one district what to do with that insurance paper? Fly to ktm from jumla to get checked in Bir hospital??Health insurance is for cities like Kathmandu,where most people have jobs and have a monthly pay scale and hence can pay a certain amount every month and can ensure their health and there is a significant presence of healthcare machinary to provide healthcare.

In our villages healthcare even now is almost free(when available) but where is the infrastructure??

So,Issue here is of infrastructure.You cannot expect a doctor to look after the administration,opd,inpatient,forensics and the constant political and beaurocratic hussles.Lets face it everyone cannot be a superman.If there is infrastructure,by that i mean at least the basic investigative apparatus and a workable environment then there are enough doctors in nepal to do a decent job.
How unfortunate can a situation be when there are hundreds of unemployed doctors in cities and not even one in villages.I dont blame the doctors here,again not every doctor has the ability to go to the villages by their own and stablish a health institution and look for funding and work for free.But if government stablishes health institutions there are people who are ready to go to any place.There has been significant rise in the number of doctors who are applying for government seats.Some of my friends who wanted to join government could not do so because they could not get through the compitition.

Our policy should be of universal healthcare.It is impossible right now not because of our poverty in financial terms but because of the poverty of mind of our ruling class.Look who is at the helm of health ministry right now.Do you as a doctor wish to work under this hooligan?I cannot live under this sham world and say to myself a hooligan is going to give us a better healthcare system.But lets hope and pray things will change for the better.

But if we consider someone with knowledge,vision and hard working attitude at the helm,it is not impossible.There are lots and lots of organisations and people who are ready to help.But we have to win their confidence and make sure that the money they are pouring in is going to the right place.If hospitals run by UMN,dhulikhel hospital and other hospitals like that can run and give high quality care with a low price,why cant our government hospitals do so??