TWO TERAI DRUGS TRAFFIKERS ARRESTED Kathmandu, 11 April: Two traffickers have been arrested attempting to smuggle in high quality Mawkanpur hash into the capital Nepal terai residents Bimal Chandra Jha, 41, and Satya Narayan Mandal, 35, were nabbed with 350kg hash at Chovar this week. They were nabbed this week during an operation of the drugs enforcement agency. Nnnn INDIA TO RESUME SUSPENDED ARMS SUPPLIES Kathmandu, 11 April: The two-day joint-consultative group meeting between Nepal and India concluded in Bangalore today [Wednesday], with the Indian government agreeing to provide Nepal necessary military logistics — lethal and non-lethal, Rupesh Acharya reports in The Himalayan Times from New Delhi.. “Though India had earlier also said that it would provide necessary security assistance, we had not raised the issue of supplying lethal weapons to Nepal in the wake of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” a source from the Nepali side said. “This time we brought up the issue for discussion as the government too has taken a decision to buy arms and weapons.” The Indian government, from its side too, had put a ban on supply of weapons to Nepal following an autocratic step of the then king Gyanendra Shah. This was the 10th joint-secretary level meeting of Nepali and Indian security bodies. Nepal’s Foreign Affairs Joint-Secretary Kali Prasad Pokharel headed the Nepali delegation while Indian Foreign Ministry Joint-Secretary Akhilesh Mishra led the Indian team. The meeting has also agreed to hold the 11th meeting in 2014 in Nepal. Nnnn LIST OF FREE DRUGS FOR DISTRIBUTION INCREASED Kathmandu, 11 April: Primary Health Care Revitalisation Division at the Health Ministry has proposed increasing the number of medicine provided under the free essential drugs list, The Himalayan Times reports.. The division has proposed to bring 60 drugs under the category of essential medicine. The newly listed drugs are for mental, emergency care and non-communicable diseases. Dr Anand Kumar Shrestha, chief of the division, said the division has revised the list and included medicine for non-communicable diseases as the burden of such diseases is increasing. The government has included some common drugs for mental illness and non-communicable diseases, said the chief. Drugs for depression, epilepsy and psychosis have been included under the mental health list and among non-communicable diseases, drugs for rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease, hypertension, congestive cardiac failure, heart attack and diabetes mellitus, have been included in the list, according to Shrestha. The government has been distributing 40 essential drugs for free to all district hospitals, 35 drugs to Primary Health Care Centre Posts and 25 drugs to health posts since 2006. The Interim Constitution 2006, guarantees free essential medical service to every citizen. The law will be one of the fundamental human rights. The intended beneficiaries of the services are the poor, marginalised and ethnic groups, deprived, disabled, elderly and female community health volunteers. As soon as we get green signal from the health ministry, we will start distributing the drugs, said the chief. “We are also expanding the range of antibiotics and medicine for emergency care to reduce morbidity and mortality among the general population,” said Shrestha. He said the division is committed to providing sufficient drugs throughout the year in all health centres. Meanwhile, the division has also reviewed the standard treatment protocols for health posts and sub-health post to make treatment procedure easier, said Shrestha. Nnnn