Parliamentary Committee directs govt to ease health insurance payments

KATHMANDU: The Education and Health Committee under the House of Representatives has directed the government to release payments under the health insurance in a feasible way.

The direction acted on reports that insured citizens are waiting long for payments under the scheme.

Similarly, the Committee in its meeting on Friday has asked the Ministry of Health and Population to take measures to control increasing COVID-19 cases.

In response, Minister for Health and Population Bhawani Prasad Khapung said the government was ready to correct any shortcomings in the release of payments under the insurance scheme.

He also pledged to make the human health insurance more manageable. He asked the local government to become more active in running COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

On the occasion, the ministry secretary Dr Roshan Pokharel admitted to the increasing COVID-19 cases lately. He, however, claimed that hospital admission of infected people had not increased.

Similarly, executive director of the Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center Chandra Mani Adhikari reported that the hospital lacks oxygenators used in cardiac surgery.

Lawmakers Giriraj Mani Pokharel, Yogesh Bhattari, Sarita Neupane, Anjana Bisunkhe, Surendra Yadav and Nabina Lama, emphasized on amendment of the Public Procurement Act to make the purchase of medical equipment free of cumbersome.