“Regulations prepared to implement the program have been sent to the cabinet,” Shree Ram Khanal, deputy spokesperson at the ministry, said while talking to myrepublica.com at a press meet organized by the ministry Monday to inform about progress made by the ministry during the current fiscal year. “We will implement the program from mid-January.”
Besides providing free service at health institutions, women coming for delivery will also get an allowance. However, the provision for allowance is the continuation of a previous program. From 2005 the government started providing an allowance to women delivering their babies at health institutions. Under this scheme women in the Terai are provided Rs 500 each while women in hills and mountains get Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 respectively.
Khanal said the ministry has been initiating several schemes in order to encourage the number of births at health centers as this is crucial for reducing child and maternal mortality.
He said the ministry is in the process of buying rickshaw ambulances and stretchers for carrying pregnant women to the health institutions. The ministry aims to provide its services to 432,000 women through women health workers. By mid-November last year the ministry covered 87,668 women under the program.
Meanwhile, over 2.31 million people benefited from free health services introduced a year ago. Under this government scheme services are free at sub-health posts, health posts and primary health centers.
The ministry also vaccinated four million children against measles. It is likewise in the process of conducting two rounds of its National Polio Program, under which it aims to administer polio drops to 4.5 million children under five. It also carried out training for 5,540 rural health workers and maternity and child health workers.
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