TWO KILLED, 18 INJURED IN PALPA Kathmandu, 17 Oct.Two persons were killed in a jeep accident in Palpa Wednesday morning and 18 were injured. The jeep going to off the road near Darlamdanda-9 Geja Thati. Eighteen persons were traveling in the bus., informed police. Among the 18 passengers on board, seven fatally injured have been rushed to Mission Hospital, Tansen for treatment. nnnn MICRO BUS KILLS TWO IN KIRTIPUR Kathmandu, 17 Oct.: A micro bus Wednesday morning hit two persons in Kirtpur killing them. The two were on a morning walk. One person has been injured. Nnnn GOVT TO REIN IN PRIVATE HOSPITAL Kathmandu, 17 Oct. Days p private hospitals hursing homes and clinics charging their patients exorbitantly could be numbered. The government has decided to rein in on such practices following complaints by patients that private hospitals are charging them exorbitantly, Arjun Paudel rites in Republic The new wk pla on financial sector reform and good governance Tuesday made it mandatory for all private hospitals to display ´patient charter´ within two months. The hospitals have to mention fee and services in the charter clearly. Patients have been complaining that private hospitals are taking benefits of the patients´ compulsion. The ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said it was mulling to fix maximum fee that the private hospitals could charge the patients. "We have discussed to fix the maximum ceiling of the private hospitals but due to variation of quality in their services and facilities we cannot decide on it right now," said Rajendra Mahatto, Minister for Health and Population. He said the new policy would be implemented immediately and the ministry will issue circular before Dashain holidays. The ministry believes that after the new rule comes into effect, patients would be aware of the fees of the hospital prior to treatment, and can decide whether they can afford private service or not. "We hope the patients will not feel cheated by private hospitals by then," Mahatto added. He warned that licenses of the private hospitals will be suspended if they do not comply with the government policy within the dateline. Moreover, the new policy has barred the government hospitals to give the pharmacies on rent. At present no government hospitals are operating their own pharmacies. They are charging huge rent from the private operators. Bir Hospital, where poor patients from across the country go for treatment, is charging Rs 1 million for a pharmacy per month in rent. Monthly rents of the pharmacies of regional hospitals are also more than Rs 1 million. Hospitals authorities conceded that the burden of hefty rents of the pharmacies ultimately goes to the poor patients. If the new policy comes into effect the hospitals will have to operate pharmacies by themselves and sells medicine at minimal costs. The policy clearly mentions that the hospitals have to buy the medicines directly from the companies and sell it by taking minimal profits. Pharmaceuticals companies are providing huge bonus and profits to the dispensaries. The new policy clearly states that the medicine that are imported must have enough time on expiry date and should be recalled three months ahead of their expiry date. The medical colleges have to provide specialist services at least 30 days in four district hospitals in a year, the policy mentioned. Nnnn ________________________________________ AVIATION INSURAN CLAIMS SURGE Kathmandu, 17Oct.: The claim amount demanded by aviation companies to cover losses inflicted by aircraft accidents rose by 47 percent last fiscal year, making the case for insurance companies bent over raising aviation insurance premium rates even Stronger, Republica reports. Non-life insurers extended Rs 614.05 million in compensation to settle claims of aviation companies in the fiscal year that ended on July 15, as against Rs 417.75 million doled out in the same period a year ago, according to figures provided by the Insurance Board. The amount spent on settling claims last fiscal exceeds the premium amount of Rs 564.23 million collected in that year. A year before that, insurance companies had mobilized total premium of Rs 556.37 million. “The compensation amount demanded by aviation companies has been increasing lately due to growing number of accidents in the sector,” a high-ranking official of the Insurance Board told Republica on condition of anonymity as he does not have the authority to talk to the press. Nepal has witnessed at least six serious aircraft accidents since Aug 2010 in which all passengers and crew members on board were killed. Then there are number of other accidents that occur at least once a month on average because of problems on runways, human errors, excess weight and collision with birds. “Due to the growing risk faced by the sector, reinsurance companies are warning to raise the premium amount on aviation insurance policies,” the official said. All non-life insurers here overtly rely on reinsurance companies located abroad to cover the risks that they have owned. As a result, they retain as little risk as possible and send whatever premium income is generated to reinsurers abroad. The problem with insurance companies providing cover to aviation business is that they almost entirely rely on reinsurers, as most of them cannot retain more than 0.05 percent of the total risk. This means these insurers extend only 0.05 percent of the total compensation amount demanded by aviation companies while relying on reinsurance companies to settle the rest of the payment. Shikhar Insurance, the largest non-life insurer here in terms of providing cover to the aviation business, for instance, collected Rs 250 million in aviation insurance premium last fiscal year, of which Rs 248.63 million was paid to reinsurers, the Insurance Board data show. This was the same with other companies like Himalayan General Insurance and Everest Insurance that generate significant chunk of business by selling insurance policies to the aviation sector. Insurance companies say they can do nothing about it as aviation insurance business entails big risks and insurers worldwide do not prefer to retain such risks that have the potential to push them to the verge of collapse. Nnnn