Four Local Levels in Myagdi Still Lack Own Ambulance

  December 18, 2024 By: INSEC

Out of the six local levels in Myagdi, four of the local levels still haven’t purchased their own ambulance to provide health facilities to the people under their local government, even after 10 years of local level formation. Article 35 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 guarantees the right to health. Sub-article 1 of the same article states that every citizen shall have the right to access basic health services free of charge, and no one shall be deprived of emergency health services. Although the Constitution mentions the right to emergency health services, there have been lack of immediate access to an ambulance has created critical situations. Beni Municipality, the district headquarters, does not have an ambulance. Mayor Surat KC explained that since ambulances from Beni Hospital and the Nepal Red Cross Society are already available in the area, they have not felt the need to buy one. He said, “The hospital and Red Cross ambulances have been providing services for years, so the municipality did not purchase its own.”

The Chairperson of the Annapurna Rural Municipality Bharat Kumar Pun, stated that the municipality plans to purchase a new ambulance as the current one is old and might face issues during use. So, they are holding discussions about purchasing a new one in the coming year. He emphasized that while the current ambulance is still in use, they aim to strengthen the service by acquiring a new one. Only Annapurna and Dhawalagiri Rural Municipalities have their ambulances. The Chairpersons of Malika, Mangala, and Raghuganga Rural Municipalities stated that there have been discussions about issues regarding ambulances at their respective local levels. Bhawa Bahadur Bhandari, the Chairman of Raghuganga Rural Municipality said that there is a need to purchase an ambulance, but no decision has been made on when it will be purchased. Moti Prasad Aryal, the Chief Administrative Officer of Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality, stated that the ambulance in their municipality provides 24-hour service to the citizens.

 


Amrit Prasad Poudel