Any woman having cervical cancer or seeking screening for the ailment will receive free treatment at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, as the city office has decided to pay all medical expenses.

Officials said that the move aims to protect women from cervical cancer and make them aware of the risks.

“Today [on Tuesday], we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Oncology Department of Bir Hospital to provide free screening and treatment of cervical cancer from the hospital,” said Deepak Kumar KC, chief of the health department of the metropolis. “Women seeking screening of cervical cancer and treatment will not have to pay the hospital bills.”

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in the developing world and a major cause of death among Nepali women. Hundreds of women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Nepal every year. It is estimated that four women succumb to cervical cancer every day in the country.

The city office has agreed to provide Rs10 million to the hospital for the screening and treatment of cervical cancer in the ongoing fiscal year.

“Women just have to seek screening or treatment of cervical cancer at our urban health promotion centres,” said KC. “Our health workers will give them a referral letter, through which they can offer free treatment from Bir Hospital.”

The city office runs 32 urban health promotion centres, and women can seek treatment or screening at any centre, according to officials. The department has carried out screening for cervical cancer in 8,000 women in recent years; of them, 450 tested positive to cervical cancer.

Health officials say positive results in the screening do not mean they are confirmed suffering from cervical cancer but require further testing to confirm they are not suffering from the ailment.

Oncologists say many Nepali women get diagnosed with cervical cancer in their third or fourth stage. Due to a lack of testing in all health facilities and awareness about the risks to both patients and health workers, many women in the country are dying from cervical cancer.

In its policy and programme, the government pledges to provide free cervical cancer screening at all state-run health facilities throughout the country. However, only very few health facilities offer such services.

Doctors said that only a declaration of free screening would not help to lessen the prevalence of the disease because women do not come for screening unless they suspect anything is wrong with their health. They stress the need to create awareness about the disease.

Health officials concede that free screening for cervical cancer is not available in all health facilities throughout the country. Health workers serving in many places have yet to be trained to carry out the screening, while some health facilities lack the necessary technology for cancer screening.

Doctors said health workers should ask all women who visit health facilities to undergo screening for cervical cancer mandatorily. They said that screening should be carried out on all sexually active women.

Nepal recently launched a nationwide vaccination drive against human papillomavirus, in which girls between 11 and 14 years old were inoculated with a single dose of the vaccine. Officials say that only around 1.45 million girls of the said age group have been inoculated so far with the vaccine in the campaign.

Human papillomavirus is a viral infection that spreads through skin-to-skin contact and is a leading cause of cervical cancer—the second-most common cancer in the developing world.

The government has decided to include the HPV vaccine in the routine immunisation list following the completion of the nationwide drive.