Rural health, medical camps and Karnali Academy of Health Sciences

Health care is largely inaccessible to most people living in rural Nepal. If one goes through the structure of the health-care delivery system of Nepal, it is actually very impressive. The smallest units of the system are the sub-health posts, one for each village development committee (VDC)[1]. Then there is a health center for each electoral area and a doctor runs it. Paramedics run the sub-health posts and the health posts. In the next tier is the district hospital where there is a medical doctor. There is also a district public health office to look after the statistics and the preventive aspects of medicine. Then the next level is the zonal hospitals and then to the big sophisticated hospitals in the major cities including teaching hospitals. The level of care to be provided is also specified for each unit of the health-care delivery system. The government provides certain medications and other supplies for each of these units, many of which are free for the patients, e.g., iron tablets are free and so are some antibiotics like cotrimoxazole. It is very an impressive plan but only if it works.