Ministry of Health & National Innovation Centre sign agreement

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population, and the National Innovation Centre have signed an agreement for collaboration in repair, maintenance and management of medical appliances at 17 hospitals under the purview of the federal government.

Dr Madan Upadhyay, Chief of the Ministry’s Quality Measurement and Regulation Division and Dr Mahabir Pun signed on a letter of agreement to that connection on behalf of the Division and the Centre, respectively.

Minister for Health and Population Pradip Paudel witnessed the signing of the agreement.

On the occasion, Minister Paudel said that the Ministry is collaborating with the Centre as it is necessary to make the health equipment functional and well-managed for managing the health sector in the context of limited resources with the State.

“We are immediately not in a position to purchase the required medical equipment due to the resource constraints. This agreement that has been reached with the goal of making the most out of the available equipment with us is an important initiative,” he said.

Stating that much amount that would be spent on buying new equipment would be spared if the equipment that are lying idle could be repaired and maintained and reused, he said works on repair and maintenance of such equipment has been initiated now.

The Health Minister expressed happiness to give the responsibility of an important work as managing the medical equipment to a renowned and established organization of the country. He added that this culture of partnership indicates that the State has confidence in the domestic organisations and workforce.

Centre chairperson Pun said that the National Innovation Centre has got another significant responsibility in connection with improvement of the health sector. “This responsibility is related to the repair and maintenance of biomedical equipment at government hospitals and to determine the condition of such appliances,” he elaborated.