The Health Insurance Board Office at Baglung is Operating with one Employee

Kathmandu : The Health Insurance Board office in Baglung is functioning with one employee. The board, which has five posts, has been staffed by one employee for three months. The service users reach the office from nine o’clock in the morning.

Registered officer Narayan Sharma, who has been working since the establishment of the board, said that the office of the Health Insurance Board Baglung was in a state of disarray when even the office assistant was named as an employee in the office.

Stating that the number of health insurance providers is increasing day by day, he said that there was a problem when three employees left the board together three months ago. The registration assistants scattered throughout the district keep calling the office.

One person will talk to the customer or talk to the registration assistant on the phone”, said Sharma. According to him, there is a problem in collecting the forms of citizens who are involved in insurance from the registration assistant. Sharma said that due to the increase in the number of insurers, it is a problem to update the firm alone.

“In the beginning, there were only two employees, there were few insurers, now the number of insurers is increasing, there is no need to collect the forms from the registered partners, I have managed the night time for updates”, he said, “This is not our only problem, Gandaki. I have heard that it is the same throughout the province, the number of insured will increase but the number of employees will decrease. Three months ago, there were three health workers, they left after the ministry’s letter came.”

Registration officer Sharma informed that the number of health insurance providers in the district has reached 43 percent. According to him, currently 100,000 citizens in the district have joined health insurance.

According to the office, the goal is to make 50 percent of citizens covered by health insurance by the end of next June.

Stating that health insurance is being distributed door to door through 78 registered assistants in the district, Sharma emphasized that the problem should be solved immediately due to lack of staff in the board’s office. He said that in Baglung, which has a capacity of five people, when the office is operated by one person, there is a situation where the office has to be closed in case of illness.

Mahesh Prasad Thakur, Coordinator of Health Insurance Board, Gandaki Province, said that there is a problem not only in Baglung but also in Gandaki Province because of the lack of staff. According to him, the board has conducted the exam for the employees and the results are being prepared for publication, so more employees are being prepared to come in some time.

“The problem of employees is not only in Baglung but in six districts of Gandaki province. In Baglung, the problem has become more because there are many insured people”, Thakur said, “100,000 citizens have joined the health insurance in the district. The office is being operated by one employee.

We are taking initiatives to bring employees to the center.” He said that the insurance program started earlier in Baglung than in other districts and the problem is more because of the large population.

Coordinator Thakur informed that the office is being operated with only one employee in Syangja, Parbat, Manang, Mustang and Gokhara along with Baglung.

According to him, due to the absence of a chairman in the board, the publication of the results of the employees is being delayed. Thakur said that this problem will be solved with the publication of the results and said that at least three employees are needed in Baglung. According to him, currently 928 thousand 459 citizens of Gandaki province have joined health insurance.