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Unscrupulous hospitals

The Himalayan Times
4 January 2018

Unscrupulous hospitals

Most of the urban people have these days easy access to health delivery facilities due to the establishment of many private hospitals. Thousands of people visit these hospitals everyday seeking treatment for various illnesses. The quality of their services varies depending upon the physical infrastructures, equipment and trained and qualified human resources. People are compelled to visit these private hospitals due to lack of adequate number of public hospitals and inefficient services. The existing public hospitals are not in a position to cater the growing number of population in the urban areas. For these reasons, urban people have no other choices but to visit the private hospitals which have monopoly.

However, whether most of the people are able to afford the medical expense bills of these private hospitals or not is another side of available health facilities.  The rates of health services of these private hospitals differ significantly from one another in the absence of appropriate guidelines and directives of the government. Visiting patients seem to be compelled to pay heavy medical bills. The people also seem to have raised concerns about the accuracy and reliability of different pathological test results. A few months ago, it was revealed from a survey report that not all the lab technicians and radiologists engaged in different health facilities were qualified and trained.

Recently, the Department of Supply Management and Protection of Consumers’ Interest found during its inspection visits that some of the renowned private hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley were overcharging patients and have accordingly instructed Metropolitan Police Division (MPD) to initiate necessary action against these unscrupulous private hospitals.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharjgunj

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