Patients at Bardiya District Hospital have been forced to buy medicines from private pharmacies due to a shortage of free drugs supplied by the government.

The hospital, which serves hundreds of patients daily, has been facing stockouts of essential medicines for the past two months.

On Wednesday, postnatal mother Radhika Lodh of Gulariya Municipality-8 returned without iron tablets, which are normally provided free of cost. She later purchased them from a private pharmacy. Doctors had advised her to take the tablets for 45 days after childbirth.

Another patient, Shamsuddin Gaddi of Gulariya Municipality-11, who visited the hospital with diarrhoea, was also asked to buy oral rehydration solution from outside the hospital.

Patients said such incidents have become routine, with many low-income families particularly affected as they are unable to access free medicines meant for basic treatment.

The Lumbini provincial government supplies 98 types of free medicines to district hospitals. However, hospital officials said more than half of these medicines have been out of stock for two months.

Abinash Tharu, head of the hospital store section, said the shortage has affected commonly used drugs, including paracetamol, oral rehydration solution, iron tablets, buprenorphine, and medicines for diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol. The hospital has also run out of anti-rabies vaccines.

Kosika Yadav, a health assistant at the hospital’s free medicine unit, said essential drugs that should be distributed free of charge are currently unavailable.

Hospital officials said repeated requests to the Province Health Logistic Management Centre (PHLMC) in Butwal have not resulted in timely supply. Bhim Adhikari, chief of accounts at the hospital, said staff even travelled to Butwal to request medicines but returned without supplies.

Officials added that the hospital development committee lacks sufficient funds to procure medicines independently. They also said local governments provide budgets to ward-level health posts but not to hospitals, further deepening the shortage.

Rajendra Giri, chief public health administrator at the PHLMC in Butwal, said delays in federal procurement processes disrupted regular supply. He said medicines would be sent to Bardiya District Hospital by the fourth week of May.