Dhangadhi, August 29:

Hundreds of People’s Liberation Army personnel living in cantonments under the Kailali-based Seventh Division of the PLA are suffering from various diseases.

Over 1,000 PLA fighters are suffering from various diseases in division headquarters Talband alone, a source at the seventh division said.

According to Bikram Bahadur Singh, assistant health worker at the division, most of the patients are suffering from viral fever. He said some 200 PLA fighters were visiting the outpatient department of the division in Talband every day for treatment.

The government had posted a medical team headed by a doctor in the seventh division last year. The team attends to PLA fighters lodged in different sub-divisions.

“The government clinic in the division headquarters doesn’t even have cetamol tablets,” Dr Hari Kumar Shrestha of the government clinic at the division said. He said he had asked the district public health office (DPHO) for medicines, to no avail.

“The DPHO said it is unable to send medicines to the camps as it didn’t even have medicines to distribute to government-run health posts. The DPHO says the government hasn’t released budget for procuring medicines this year,” Dr Shrestha added.

He warned that the disease might take epidemic proportions if medicines were not made available on time.

The condition of 60 women fighters in Talband is worsening, Dr Shrestha said, adding, “More than 140 nursing mothers in the sub-divisions are suffering the most. The condition of mothers and babies is worsening due to lack of nutritious food. Most of them are suffering from viral fever,” Dr Shrestha added.