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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed its concern over people with disabilities (PWD) facing the lack of accessibility to the service provider agencies making it tougher for them to avail services and facilities.

Unveiling the report about provisions of mental health rights in the Gandaki and Bagmati Provinces as of 2081 BS on last Tuesday, the Commission stated that although the quality of the buildings of the service provider agencies was high, those infrastructures were not disabled-friendly.

The report shows that public as well as private healthcare facilities were far from being disabled-friendly. So was the case with rehabilitation centers and other organizations, it was mentioned.

Some new buildings had lift and ramp for wheel-chairs, the PWD could not have the surety of easily accessing the restrooms, bathroom and canteens in those buildings, the report highlighted.

Furthermore, the report brought to the fore the grave issue of PWD's rights to attending to their basic needs such as food, clean drinking water and comfortable accommodation facilities was being neglected.

Also, there is a scarcity of skilled human resources such as psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses and social mobilizers among others in the Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces for the PWD, the report noted.

The National Health Insurance Program also appears to be ineffective for the people with mental health issues or psychological disabilities as their access to it was limited, it was reported.

Commission's Chairperson Tap Bahadur Magar shared that the research and study attempted to examine or identify the quality of treatment, care and support mechanism for the people with mental problems and psychological disabilities.

It is stated that widespread differences were seen from the perspective of sanitation at the organizations and rehabilitation centres visited in course of the study.

The study showed that in some organizations the sanitation standard was found to be good while it was average in some others. It is stated that most of the organizations have not really paid attention to the topic of confidentiality.

The study report stated that several of the private hospitals lacked disabled-friendly toilets.

The study mentioned that people with mental issues and those with psycho-social debility had limited access to quality mental health services in Gandaki Province which has a dominant rural population as compared to Bagmati province.

NHRC Chairperson Magar said the study has tried to identify the quality of treatment, care and support that people with mental issues and those with psycho-social debility have. 

"The study has recommended to the government and the stakeholder bodies to ensure the rights of people with psycho-social disabilities and to promote their mental health and wellbeing," he said.

Dr Krishna Poudel, Head of the Ministry of Health and Population's Policy, Planning and Monitoring Division, said that the Ministry has not been able to extend services of psychiatric doctors and specialists in remote areas including in the Sudurpaschim Province.

"A lot of work has to be carried out with minimum resources. Although there are mental health wards at the Provincial hospitals, we have not been assigning specialists in all the seven provinces. We are trying to appoint specialists there," he added.

NHRC urges three tiers of government to protect rights of people with disabilities

Meanwhile, the National human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged all the three tiers of the government to give priority to the issues of people with disabilities in the policy, plans, programs and budget.

The NHRC also urged the federal, provincial and local governments to protect and promote the rights of the disabled persons. It called attention of the three levels of government to these issues in the context of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on December 3.

Visiting Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that Nepal would reap benefits from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In his address to a program held at Peking University, PM Oli expressed the belief that China has strongly supported Nepal's development and the BRI project initiated under the visionary leadership of President Xi Jinping would further deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and China in 2025, PM Oli said that high-level visits would be exchanged between the two countries to add a new dimension to the bilateral relations.

The Prime Minister further said that an old university like Peking could also contribute to the educational development of Nepal.

PM Oli was welcomed by University Chair Prof Gong Qihuang. Other members of the prime minister-led delegation were also present on the occasion.

Prime Minister Oli is also scheduled to address the Nepal China Business Forum today itself.

President Ram Chandra Paudel has been admitted to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) for prostate treatment.

Acting Executive Director of the hospital, Prof Dr Ghanashyam Gurung informed that the President was admitted for treatment this morning.

TikTok has removed 6,078 videos that were posted against the ‘community guidelines’ in Nepal in two months.

TikTok's representative said out of the videos posted in April and June 99.1 percent of the videos were removed immediately while 93.2 percent videos were deleted within 24 hours.

The data was presented at the 'Digital Safety Summit Nepal' organized by TikTok in coordination with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Kathmandu on Tuesday.

On the occasion, TikTok representative Sidra Jalil presented a working paper on the regulatory guidelines prepared by TikTok.

Jalil said that the age group has also been categorically allocated to create a dignified and systematic TikTok platform.

According to the guidelines, the user should have a minimum age of 16 years to directly send messages to TikTok and 18 years to go live.

In lack of awareness on the proper use of social media, the guidelines were not followed properly, the representative said.

On the occasion, TikTok's Head of Public Policy and Government Relations for South Asia, Fordous Mottakin said that TikTok is committed to continuously collaborating with the Government of Nepal to promote digital literacy and online safety.

He said that the guideline has been put in place for the online safety of children and youth in particular.

Noting that some precautionary steps have been taken towards creating a safe online environment in Nepal, he said that there is a special concern for the safety of TikTok users.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is currently on an official visit to China, is scheduled to deliver a speech on 'various dimensions of Nepal-China relations' at Peking University on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PM Oli will also address the Nepal-China Business Forum, jointly organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, today.

Prime Minister Oli paid a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday. On the same day, he held separate meetings with his counterpart Li Qiang and Chairman of the People's Congress of China Zhao Leji.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual cooperation in nine areas was signed after talks between the delegations led by the two prime ministers at the Great Hall of the People.

A week-long photo exhibition organized on the occasion of the five-decade-long partnership between the Government of Nepal and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the development of the energy sector is being held at Nepal Kala Parishad in Babarmahal.

The program that kicked off on Tuesday and will continue till December 9 is organized in collaboration with Photojournalist Club Nepal.

State Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Purna Bahadur Tamang, Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Suresh Acharya, Managing Director at the Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising, Country Director of ADB Nepal Resident Mission Amaud Cauchois and Deputy Head of Mission at the Norwegian Embassy in Nepal Kristine Hauge Storholt officially inaugurated the event.

The objective of the exhibition is to provide direct visual experience of the work carried out during the five decades of partnership between the Government of Nepal and ADB in the energy sector.

Speaking at the program, the minister thanked ADB for its contribution to the energy sector of Nepal.

“Many positive works have been conducted recently in this sector. We are grateful for the work done to improve the energy sector of our country,” he said.

Similarly, Country Director of ADB Nepal Resident Mission Cauchois discussed in detail about the partnership with the Government of Nepal to increase power generation, transmission, distribution and energy sufficiency.

Likewise, NEA Managing Director Ghising stressed on the importance of the bank's support, especially in large hydropower projects and alternative renewable energy initiatives.

Thanking the bank, he expressed his hope that the partnership will become even more stronger.

The exhibition is divided into four sections-- Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Beyond the meter.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is currently on a four-day official visit to the People's Republic of China, beginning Monday, and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee  of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, held a meeting today.

On the occasion, they discussed the matters relating to Nepal-China relations and mutual concerns.

Similarly, the two leaders exchanged views on activities of the CPN-UML, the political exchanges and future cooperation, according to the Prime Minister's Private Secretariat.

Prior to this, the Prime Minister paid a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Likewise, the Prime Minister's delegation held a bilateral meeting with the Chinese delegation led by Premier Li Qiang.

Prime Minister Oli arrived in China at the friendly invitation of his Chinese counterpart.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is presently on a four-day official visit to the People's Republic of China, beginning Monday, today paid a courtesy call on President of China, Xi Jinping.

During the meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on the issues relating to Nepal-China relations and mutual interests and concerns.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba, Prime Minister's Chief Political Advisor Bishnu Prasad Rimal and Economic Advisor Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Chief Secretary Eaknaryan Aryal, Acting Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai, Joint Secretary Krishna Prasad Dhakaal and Nepal's Ambassador to China Krishna Prasad Oli accompanied the Prime Minister during the meeting with the Chinese President.

The Prime Minister arrived in China at the friendly invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang.