KATHMANDU, Feb 13 - It has been nearly five months since the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) asked private sector not to provide Hepatitis B vaccinations until the ministry comes up with specific policies.
To check private sector from charging exorbitant sums for vaccination and to control quality, the ministry on September 17 last year, asked private sector to stop providing the vaccination.
However, after several months, the ministry is yet to draft a policy in this regard. The vaccine is currently available only through regular immunization programs conducted by the government for children below a year. Officially, adults as well as children above one year cannot get the vaccine in the country at the moment.
During all these months, files submitted by private health institutions seeking permission to provide the service, as well as by organizations seeking free vaccination for needy children have piled up at the Child Health Division (CHD).
"We have applied for free vaccination for our children," said Indira Bhandari, an official of Asthha Children Care Home, an organization that has been providing shelter to orphans and conflict-affected children. However, the ministry's inability to draft a policy has hindered responses to such requests.
Narayani Institute of Science and Technology of Bara district, Dhaulagiri Environment and Health Development Society, Nepal Parasite Prevention and Control Center and Asthha Children Care Home, are among several organizations that have either been seeking permission for providing the vaccine or requesting the ministry to provide free vaccination for children.
An official at the ministry, who did not wish to be named, said, "How can a policy be drafted when the committee formed for the purpose has not even conducted a single meeting?"
However, Arjun Bahadur Singh, spokesperson at the health ministry said that the ministry has developed the necessary modality. "But it will take a few more days for approval," he said. He said that the modality basically talks about temperature level for the vaccination until it reaches consumers. It also mentions post-vaccine follow up so that vaccine givers will be responsible in the event of any complications. He said that it will also fix a ceiling on price.
According to Dr Shyam Upreti, immunization chief at CHD, Hepatitis B virus is 200 times more communicable than HIV virus.
Since, after infection, the virus affects children more quickly than adults, the government had been providing the vaccination under its regular immunization programs for children less than a year old since 2002 with support from Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization.
Based on a data of 1999 to 2000 registered in the Liver Unit of Bir Hospital, the ministry has estimated that two per cent of the country's population suffer from the disease. "It is more common in indigenous and ethnic groups," he said. -
The Kathmandu Post
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