Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that the date of local elections
will be announced within this week. He said that the government will fix the date of local
elections from the upcoming cabinet meeting.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the Socialist Press Organization Morang in
Biratnagar on Monday, Minister Khatiwada said, “The five-party alliance has not run away from the election. We will finalize the date of local level election from the next cabinet meeting.”
Opposition party CPN-UML has accused the ruling party of running away from the local body elections. In another context, Minister Khatiwada said that the problem of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences was immediately alerted. He said the incumbent had been barred from working and the government had formed a five-member team and sent him to Dharan.
He said that a team was sent on Friday to work on the leadership. After the team started
working, the current officials said that they would not be allowed to work until the investigation is completed.
Minister Khatiwada has urged the public to take active part in the vaccination campaign as
vaccination is the only alternative to the corona epidemic. Stating that the government has
launched the vaccination program as a campaign, Minister Khatiwada said that regular
vaccinations have been conducted in government hospitals and various health institutions by running special desks.
Stating that the government has a plan to fully vaccinate the target group of citizens above 18 years of age by next Chaitra, Minister Khatiwada said, “Citizen participation has been low in proportion to the target of the government. To achieve the goal, the government has launched a campaign to launch vaccination program in all the states simultaneously.” He said that the government expects support from the people in this campaign.
Minister Khatiwada said that only 60 per cent of the target group above 18 years of age had been fully vaccinated and 80 per cent had been given the first dose. He said that the work of giving booster dose to the 950,000 frontliners has been started from Magh 2.
Minister Khatiwada clarified that there is sufficient stock of vaccine against covid and the
government is preparing to vaccinate children below 11 years of age. Minister Khatiwada said that the government has reached an agreement with a vaccine company to vaccinate children after getting recognition from the World Health Organization. He said that the government is working hard to get the vaccine for children as there is a shortage of syringes in the international market.
By Muna Chand
