KATHMANDU: The government has cautioned the general public against their carelessness in sanitation and food habits for the fear that an epidemic might outbreak in summer. Pranay Kumar Upadhyay, senior pubic health officer at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division said that the ministry is on high alert to tackle any possible epidemic outbreak in this season. “The distribution of essential medicines and other equipment has been completed nationwide. We have allocated more budget and medicines to 16 districts that had been severely affected by diarrhoea last year,” informed Upadhyay. Around 366 persons died during mid-April to mid-October last year as per the record of the government. However the NGO’s record claims the death toll to have reached 394. The ministry has also formed Community Rapid Response Team (CRRT) in the most vulnerable 20 districts in remote areas to provide immediate response this year. There are 75 District Rapid Response Team nationwide. Talking to The Himalayan Times, Upadhyay informed that the team would be mobilised as per the need of the area and would give the first hand service to the victims. MoHP posted around 150 doctors last month in the remote places. Saroj Prasad Rajendra, chief of Sahid Sukraraj Tropical Hospital at Teku said that they had recorded the growing number of patients as soon as the summer started. “The simple way to keep the diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice at bay is to drink safe water and follow hygienic habit” added Rajendra.