Ministry of Health and Population to Clear Health Insurance Dues by Mid-August

Kathmandu. The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to pay all remaining dues under the health insurance program by mid-August. Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Bikash Devkota, informed about the steps taken by the ministry to improve and sustain the insurance system during a meeting of the Education, Health, and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

According to Secretary Devkota, approximately 24 to 25 billion rupees have been paid for insurance in the last fiscal year. While about 15 billion rupees are yet to be paid, 10 to 12 billion rupees will be settled by mid-August, he stated. Clarifying the role of private hospitals in the insurance program, Secretary Devkota informed that the payment to private hospitals is currently being controlled. Presenting data showing that only 7 percent of the total service recipients go to private hospitals, he said that a policy has been adopted to attract these service recipients to the government sector by strengthening services in government hospitals. According to the ministry, the monthly insurance expenditure, which was previously 2 billion rupees, has now decreased to about 880 million to 1 billion rupees. He claimed that attention has been paid to cost management without compromising the quality of service.