Over 70 percent health facilities operating at local level—health posts, primary health care centres—have stopped providing information on health and logistics to the federal government for several months.

Senior health officials and experts warn that disruption of information would have long-term negative effects on the country’s overall health care system. Due to lack of information, the agencies concerned have been unable to access the annual requirements of commodities for public health programmes—family planning, maternal, neonatal and child health, medicines of HIV, tuberculosis, leprosy, among others.

Health offices under the Ministry of Health and Population said that they have been preparing budget for the upcoming fiscal year based on the previous year’s data, according to officials at the ministry. “We do not have information about stock of medicines and vaccines,” Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, spokesperson for the ministry, said. “We have been receiving complains about crisis of essential drugs from several districts.”

He concedes that the federal government is in the dark about the stock of essential medicines, their expiry date. Earlier, all health care facilities across the country used to send information, including that on logistics, to the district public health office and the latter would report regularly to the centre. But the information system has been disrupted after the government decided to dissolve the district public health offices. Although the Health Ministry later decided to retain the district Public Health Offices, the information system has not been resumed.

Staffers deployed to report information on health and logistics to the centre have been transferred to other offices after the adjustment of civil servants in all three tiers of government—federal, provincial and local level.

Ramesh Prasad Adhikari, director at the Management Division of the Department of Health Services, said that very few health care facilities had sent the report of second quarterly review meeting and data. “We have written to all health facilities operating at local level throughout the country requesting information on health and logistics on regular basis,” Adhikari said.

Dr Baburam Marasini, former director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, said that disruption of information on health and logistics would be a big setback to the government and other stakeholders. “Health agencies concerned under the Health Ministry used to analyse the data and information provided by the local health unit, and make planning accordingly,” said Dr Marasini, adding that health officials could not make any planning without proper information.