Private hospitals non-committal in operating own pharmacy: KMC

The private hospitals are found non-committal to the directive of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) requiring them to run their own pharmacy.

The KMC had on June 5 issued this directive to all the 52 private hospitals operating under its jurisdiction.

Officiating Chief of KMC Health Department, Sajina Maharjan, said that none of the hospitals has contacted the Department so far informing it of abiding by the directive.  She said that some private hospitals have stated that they would operate their own pharmacy from next month, citing the deadline given by KMC was too short.

The KMC believes that the patients will get the appropriate medicines at reasonable price and the indigent citizens will be able to get medicines at affordable cost when hospitals operate their own pharmacy from the hospital premises.

It is said that only 16 of the 52 private hospitals are running their own pharmacy. Similarly, 28 hospitals are running the hospital and pharmacy in the name of separate individuals while the rest have not at all operated their own pharmacy.

KMC had given 15 days' deadline to the private hospitals to implement the directive.