Health on drugs

December 26, 2011Posted inHealth12 Comments
The Health Ministry has admitted that they have a problem: they have not been able to maintain an adequate supply of drugs to our hospitals. As a result, patients have had to postpone or even forgo medication. And doctors have been forced to direct their patients to private pharmacies, which, many times, have also been frustratingly out of drugs. Worse still, the Health Ministry has admitted that they still do not know how to resolve the drug shortage issue, a problem that has reached chronic proportions during the past year. So they’ve announced that, as an interim measure, they…

Remote schooling

January 14, 2009Posted inEducation, Local Government
The National Assembly, our nation’s highest legislative body, spent a good 30 minutes yesterday talking about a school in Gasa. The issue was tabled by the Honourable MP from Gasa, Dasho Damcho Dorji, the other opposition member, on behalf of the people of Gasa. The people want the government to reverse its decision to downgrade Gasa LSS to a primary school. The people argue that if their school is downgraded, fewer of their children will be willing to continue their studies, after completing Class VI, in the boarding school in distant, wetter and hotter Jeyshong. Lyonpo Thakur Singh, our…

What’s centralized

January 8, 2009Posted inGovernment, Local Government
Consider this: Nu 38.32 billion had been budgeted for capital investments in the 9th Five Year Plan. Of that, Nu 9.32 billion had been budgeted for the dzongkhags and gewogs. That was about 24.37% of the total capital outlay.Now consider this: Nu 73.61 billion has been budgeted for capital investments in the 10th Five Year Plan. Of this, Nu 12 billion has been budgeted for the dzongkhags and gewogs. That is only 16.30% of the total capital outlay.In 2002, after two decades of decentralization, the government was prepared to earmark almost a quarter of the total capital outlay to…

What’s decentralised

January 6, 2009Posted inGovernment, Local Government
Consider this: each minister would enjoy entitlements and benefits totaling about Nu 9,942,000 during the 10th Five Year Plan period. This is at current pay scales. (See my conservative estimates towards the end). Now consider this: 40 gewogs would each get capital funds amounting to less than Nu 9,942,000 each during the 10th Five Year Plan period. This is according to what has been budgeted in the draft 10th Five Year Plan. Three of them (Soe, Samrang and Khatoe) would not even get Nu 3 million each for the entire 10th Plan period – in other words, each of…