Last month our Prime Minister Sushil Koirala returned home after completing his treatment in New York. The PM was diagnosed with lung cancer. Not long ago, CPN-UML leader KP Oli also suffered a similar tragedy. He was diagnosed with meningitis and was actually airlifted and flown to Bangkok. The government decided to pay RS 4 million and ensure a successful treatment. It is now being increasingly seen that ministers from different parties are falling ill and venturing abroad for treatment. But why don’t our ministers opt to have their treatment domestically or nearby country? And why does the state have to bear all of the cost, if not all why can’t they pay part of the bill themselves?
What about the plight of the poor? Thousands of our people are dying because of poor health services. People in remote areas are not able to get even basic health services due to lack of proper infrastructures and medical teams. Diseases like Tuberculosis and others still pose a big problem. Many children die in the very beginning of their lives due to diseases like cholera because of malnutrition and lack of health services. And the ministers are enjoying luxurious free health trips to a foreign country. The money that is spent on such highly facilitated health trip can be used here in Nepal to save the life of numerous people.
The money that is spent on such highly facilitated health trip can be used here in Nepal to save the life of numerous people.
Who is to blame for this situation…. the people who voted those ministers to reach that place or the irresponsible ministers?
Why is the taxpayer’s money is being used to pay for treatment of such incompetent ministers? Also we are not talking about treatment bills to hospitals like BNB and Patan hospital or Bir Hospital, our ministers enjoy fully paid trips to foreign countries. Do the very ministers who repeatedly failed to draft the constitution on time to be subject to such luxurious treatment? The answer is a clear “NO”. The state’s money is the money owned by the public and the country as a whole. Basically, it’s our money. And thus should be used to provide better health services, especially to the economically weak people.
For normal citizens like us, life is already very harsh. We are subject to ever-increasing inflation, load shedding and sky-high price of daily foods. To the economically weak people, the reality is unimaginable. But to our ministers, life is beautiful. They don’t have to worry about their bills especially health bills because the state will pay it. It feels like our ministers actually want to fall ill as this will give them an excuse to travel abroad and have a fully paid luxurious holiday.
As a citizen, we can continue with our lives fighting against corruption & high price and work hard because we have to pay our own bills.