Health and Population Minister Pradeep Paudel has decided to provide free cancer treatment for children below 14 years of age in government hospitals.
Taking a ministerial decision on Sunday, he decided to provide such services free of cost in government hospitals Kanti Children’s Hospital Kathmandu, Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital Bhaktapur and BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital Bharatpur Chitwan.
According to the Secretariat of Minister Paudel, arrangements have been made so that the treatment will be free from November 1st. The policy of the ministry is to provide free cancer treatment, which costs a lot of money based on the state’s capacity.
As part of this, Minister Paudel started an initiative to make children’s cancer treatment services free of charge immediately after he was reinstated in the ministry. Currently, this system is going to start with children, according to the ministry. More than two-thirds of the total deaths in Nepal, 71% are caused by non-communicable diseases. Among them, 11 percent died due to cancer, according to the public data of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Ministry.
In 2022, 22,000 new patients were seen in Nepal, and 14,000 more died. About 1,500 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in Nepal. Minister Paudel said that it was decided to make the treatment free of charge to prevent those children from dying due to lack of family finances and to save their lives by timely treatment.