Digital Health Initiative
15th October 2025, Kathmandu
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has successfully established a comprehensive, ward-level primary healthcare system, demonstrating a firm commitment to the constitutional right to health.
Digital Health Initiative
This ambitious effort, powered by a robust Digital Health Initiative, now operates Urban Health Promotion Centers across all 32 wards. These centers provide Free Healthcare services, reaching citizens directly where they live.
The success of this program underscores the Metropolitan City’s strategic focus on health and ICT integration. By bringing services closer to the public, the KMC addresses accessibility challenges inherent in urban environments.
The initial emphasis on infrastructure in the first fiscal year (2022/23) has yielded exponential growth in service uptake.
Unprecedented Growth in Urban Health Access
The scale of the program’s impact is significant. In the fiscal year 2080/81 (2023/24), the centers served over 124,000 citizens.
This figure surged to more than 194,000 in the following year (2024/25). Early data from the current fiscal year already shows over 41,000 service recipients in just the first two months, strongly indicating that the annual total will exceed 250,000 citizens receiving Free Healthcare this year alone.
This accelerated adoption rate highlights the urgent demand for accessible, high-quality public health services in the capital.
This rapid expansion necessitates continuous digital infrastructure upgrades to manage the increased patient flow and data volume.
The integration of technology ensures efficient patient registration, smooth management of medical records, and quick access to patient histories, a foundational element of the Digital Health Initiative.
Integrating Specialist Care and Referral Networks
The Urban Health Promotion Centers do more than just provide basic care. MBBS doctors offer regular treatment every day.
The Metropolitan City also organizes specialist physician services according to a fixed schedule, ensuring residents receive a higher level of consultation right in their wards.
Crucially, the KMC has established a structured referral system. For complex treatments beyond the capacity of the urban centers, patients are directly referred to major tertiary hospitals like Civil, Bir, and Teaching Hospitals.
This system provides a coordinated pathway from primary ward-level care to specialized tertiary care, with health insurance coverage implemented in ten of these Urban Centers to further ease the financial burden.
The Role of ICT in Modernizing Health Services
The efficiency and rapid scaling of the KMC’s health model depend heavily on ICT. While the official details highlight the free nature of the services, a modern, ward-based system implicitly relies on technology for seamless operations.
Digital patient management systems and electronic health records (EHR) become critical for doctors to track patient history, manage prescriptions, and execute referrals quickly and accurately.
The Metropolitan’s commitment to the ‘Arogya Jiwan Swarnim Yojana’ (Healthy Life Golden Plan) includes using digital channels for large-scale preventive health campaigns.
ICT facilitates the management of vast preventive programs, including school health education, mental health services, and infectious disease control, ensuring they reach the intended audience across the KMC.
Focusing on Prevention and Comprehensive Support
The Metropolitan City understands that true health investment lies in prevention. The ‘Arogya Jiwan Swarnim Yojana’ focuses on making citizens healthier to reduce the overall disease burden.
This includes promoting wellness through yoga and Ayurveda services, running targeted nutrition programs, and executing routine vaccination campaigns.
Within the Urban Centers, citizens access over 250 varieties of free medicines, alongside free laboratory and radiology services, physiotherapy, and essential maternity services.
Furthermore, an integrated ambulance service ensures immediate transport for critical cases. By combining Free Healthcare with a tech-enabled referral network, the Digital Health Initiative ultimately aims to eliminate preventable deaths due to lack of treatment, solidifying health as a non-negotiable right for all city residents.
For more: Digital Health Initiative