An Assessment on Availability of Essential Drugs in Health Facilities (HP and SHP) in Nepal

Abstract

Summary: Introduction The universal program of free health care services commenced in January 2008 and provides essential health care services free of charge to all citizens at Health Posts (HP), Sub-Health Posts (SHP) and Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) nationwide. However, it is being argued that essential drugs (ED) allocated for the health facilities are not regularly available in most of the health facilities. Although the Ministry of Health & Population (MoHP) is monitoring and supervising the implementation of the free health service program, no specific study has so far been undertaken that reveals the exact availability status of ED in health facilities. In this context, this study assesses the status of availability of ED in selected health facilities of Nepal.