SIRAHA, April 21 -- Rinku Kumari Yadav of Siraha Bazar had a little money in her pocket when she went to the district hospital for her pregnancy check up last week. She was straight away told to have a video x-ray, blood culture, urine and stool tests done. This cost her a lot. After that, she was handed a long list of medicines. She thought that buying the medication would not be expensive as the government provides 70 kinds of essential drugs for free. More so, for a pregnant woman.

"I had heard they provide vitamin and calcium capsules for free. Along with that, there are many other medicines that the government offers for free," she said. However, she did not get anything for free. The pharmacy inside the hospital told her she had to...