KATHMANDU, Aug 9: Health facilities run by the private sector offer their services to patients but do not share information with the government, which is crucial for updating records, District Public Health Office (DPHO) Kathmandu said.
Due to the reluctance of private medical care centers to share information about the services they have provided, the status of health care services in Kathmandu appears far behind other districts throughout the country, officials at Kathmandu DPHO said.
A study conducted by the Ministry of Health (MoH) shows that Kathmandu ranks in 45th position in the health care services offered to patients. The study shows that the overall coverage of immunization and other programs is just about 70 percent in Kathmandu, which is very poor compare to the hinterland districts.
“We are trying our best to collect information about the services that private health facilities offered patients,” said Bhogendra Dotel, chief at Kathmandu DPHO. He informed that the DPHO has written formally to all private health facilities including hospitals and nursing homes to share information about the services they offered to patients. “We have also sent employees to the private health facilities to request them to maintain a proper records system and share information with the DPHO."
DPHO chief Dotel complained that the big hospitals and nursing homes run by the private sector take the requests from DPHO lightly and do not think it necessary to share their information. “First of all they do not take our requests seriously,” he said adding that sharing information with the government is not their priority. Moreover, most health facilities run by private centers do not think it necessary to register and renew their registration.
According to DPHO chief Dotel, the private centers do not hire any records officers and so they cannot provide information sought by government officials.