Feb 16, Kathmandu- An agreement has been reached between the Ministry of Health and Population and the World Federation of Hemophilia to provide free medicines to patients with haemophilia, a hereditary blood clotting disorder.

The Private Secretariat of the Minister of Health and Population stated today that an agreement was reached between the Federation and the Ministry in this regard last Friday at the Department of Drug Management.

The necessary medicines for the treatment of this disease will now be obtained from the Federation and will be provided from other government hospitals in addition to federal and provincial hospitals under the Ministry of Health and Population, the Private Secretariat stated in a press note issued today.

According to Dr. Prakash Budhathoki, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, 900 people have been identified as suffering from this disease in the country. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 5,000 such patients in Nepal who have not been identified. In the 2078 BS census, it is estimated that 0.8 percent of the 2.2 percent who were disabled may have Hemophilia.