The Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to hire 27 medical doctors for its urban health promotion centres.

The move aims to provide basic health care services to the people of the metropolis, officials at the municipal health department said.

“We are in the process of selecting medical doctors from among the applicants who have applied to serve at our urban health promotion centres,” said Ram Prasad Poudel, chief of the health department of the metropolis.

“Along with medical officers, we are also hiring staff nurses, health assistants, auxiliary health workers, lab technicians, physiotherapists, auxiliary nurse midwives, data officers and peons to ensure basic health care services.”

Of the 32 urban health promotion centres in as many wards of Kathmandu, some have been providing services by employing medical doctors.

“In the absence of medical doctors, we have not been able to ensure basic health care services to ailing people,” said Poudel. “Health workers currently serving at urban health promotion centres are compelled to ask people to bring doctor’s prescription for free medicines. We hope that patients will benefit from this move.”

The KMC provides 98 types of essential medicines—for communicable and non-communicable diseases including high blood pressure, diabetes, mental health, heart, asthma, cholesterol and respiratory problems.

The idea behind starting health promotion centres was to provide extensive health care services to the city dwellers, especially those who cannot afford to go to expensive health facilities and buy costly medicines. However, the plan has gone awry, as the target group currently does not seem to benefit.

Health workers deployed at the centres said that most patients who could not get medicines at the first visit or are asked to bring a doctor’s prescription generally do not return for the services.

Officials at the department said that out of the 32 wards, 24 have rented community buildings or private houses to run the health promotion centres.

The metropolis has allocated Rs360 million to provide free services to the residents in the current fiscal year.