Most of the health institutions in rural parts of Gorkha are reeling under an acute shortage of essential medicines.

“We don’t even have medicines for diarrhoea. If a patient comes, we have to send them back without medicines,” said the in-charge of a health post near to Gorkha district headquarters. He requested not to be named, saying that the higher authority would “unnecessarily grill him for leaking information”.

Mangal  Bahadur Kumal of Chyangli said his granddaughter is down with fever, but he could not get her any treatment at the local health post. 

“I was told there was no medicines for my granddaughter,” said Kumal.

According to the officials at the District Public Health Office (DPHO), they have been managing with the medicines that were supplied to the district as relief after the earthquake of April 25 last year.

Medicines for common cold, fever, diarrhoea, gastritis etc are in short supply.

DPHO Chief Mahendradhwoj Adhikari admitted that some medicines were in short supply, but denied the claims that health posts in the rural areas had no medicines at all.