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The state-owned health institutions in Madhes Province have faced a shortage of medicines as the Health Supplies Centre failed to proceed with procurement on time.

It is said that frequent changes in the Director at the Health Supplies Centre under the Ministry of Health and Population of the Madhes Province and the subsequent disputes resulted in the delay in drug purchase.     

Officials have shared that patients from economically poor backgrounds have suffered for lack of drugs. 

Currently, the provincial hospitals in the districts of Madhes Province have provided services to patients by purchasing drugs from the hospitals' internal resources. However, the hospital authorities have shared that they have not been able to provide the drugs for free as promised by the government. 

Likewise, the laboratories established in 136 local levels by the Province Public Health Laboratory have faced challenges in running their services as they are running out of testing kits.

The Chief Minister of Madhes Province, Satish Kumar Singh, said that processes have been forwarded for the supplies of drugs and hoped that supplies will be ensured sooner. 

The government has promised to provide 98 types of drugs for free but currently, only half of the drugs are being given to the patients currently.

The National Potato Festival kicked off on Sunday in Hemja of Pokhara Metropolitan City-25, a pocket area for potato production in the district of Kaski. 

The organizer stated that the festival will conclude on April 16.   

Chairman of the organizing Bishnu Paduka Club, Basanta Shrestha, mentioned that the festival was organized to promote the production and publicity of potatoes and other vegetables grown here in the area, as well as to establish Hemja as a popular commercial agricultural tourist destination. 

Potatoes grown in Hemja are well-known in Pokhara and the surrounding areas, thanks to their good taste and minimal use of pesticides. 

For getting massive attention, locals have created a massive pile of 50,000 kilograms of potatoes, the potato collection and agriculture mobilization sub-committee coordinator Jayraj Timilsina said. 

Out of the total 13,500 hectares of land in Hemja, potato farming is done on 550 hectares of land and some 2,000 households rely on agriculture here. 

During the inaugural session of the festival, Mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City Dhanraj Acharya expressed that the city would provide the best possible support to the local community for the development of agriculture and other sectors.  

Mayor Acharya urged local farmers to take benefit from the Agriculture Ambulance introduced by the Pokhara Metropolitan City for the sale and distribution of agricultural products.

Heavy rains have lashed parts of earthquake-hit Myanmar, complicating relief efforts and raising the risk of disease as the death toll from the powerful quakes that struck the country on March 28 rose to at least 3,471, Al Jazeera reported.

Rains and winds soaked survivors and their belongings in tent camps in Mandalay, near the epicentre of the earthquake, according to aid workers. More rain was expected later in the day, as temperatures rose to 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit).

Aid groups have warned that the combination of unseasonably heavy rainfall and high heat could lead to disease epidemics, including cholera, among earthquake survivors who are camping out in the open.

The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck a large portion of Myanmar, home to 50 million people, causing considerable damage in six provinces and states, including the capital, Naypyidaw, according to Al Jazeera.

State media in the military-led country now say the earthquake has caused 3,471 deaths and injured 4,671 people, while 214 remain missing.

Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists is organizing a ‘Hakakahi Bahas’ at Bhanimandal in Chakrapath, Lalitpur on Monday to implement immediate measures to improve air quality in both the short and long term, highlighting the deteriorating air quality in Kathmandu.

Issuing a statement on Sunday, Acting General Secretary of NEFEJ Shristi Kafle said that the worsening air quality has been seriously affecting the health of millions of Nepalis, stressing on the need to discuss the issue.

There is a growing fear of the spread of viral influenza, pneumonia, cough, viral fever and other diseases.

According to the Air Quality Index (IQAir), Kathmandu recorded the worst air quality in the world on Tuesday.

Dr Prakash Budhathoki, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population, Bhupendra Das, Environmental Specialist, Bibhuti Pokharel, Spokesperson of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and Khushboo Sharma, Air Pollution Analyst, ICIMOD will be the speakers of the program.