Following assessments of health sector financial management and procurement practices in Lumbini and Madhesh provinces in Nepal delivered through the FCDO funded Procurement and Public Financial Management (PPFM) programme, we organised policy dialogues in the two provinces. The aim of the dialogues was to help create efficient and responsive health systems that can provide quality and affordable health services to the Nepalese people.  

Participants included provincial health ministers, planning commission members, parliamentary committee chairs, local government representatives, health officials, and development partners.  

For several decades, Nepal’s government has worked to increase equitable access to health services, decentralise the delivery of healthcare and improve health outcomes for the poor through fair financing. However, service delivery challenges persist due partly to insufficient funding, poor management, and, in some cases, the duplication of resources. At present, Nepal’s health system is adapting to federalism. 

While the debate noted that a set of laws and procedures to manage resources effectively has been implemented at provincial level, including the Financial Procedures Act, they also highlighted issues such as the limited capacity of internal control committees, a lack of appropriate tools for financial performance monitoring, and insufficient stakeholder participation in health policy and budget processes. 

To increase transparency and informed decision-making, dialogue participants recommended to strengthen internal control committees and prepare multi-year procurement plans, amongst others. 

The dialogues were organised in collaboration with the federal Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the FCDO funded Nepal Health Sector Programme III (NHSP3) and the provincial health ministries of Lumbini and Madesh provinces.  

About PPFM Nepal 

The Procurement and Public Financial Management (PPFM) project supports the British Embassy Kathmandu (BEK) to ensure that UK financial aid to the health sector is spent accountably, transparently, delivers good value for money and promotes procedural integrity of financial management and procurement. It does this by monitoring PFM and procurement practices in Nepal’s health sector and identifying opportunities to strengthen performance. PPFM is funded by FCDO and implemented by Crown Agents in partnership with Team Consult in Nepal.