JAJARKOT: Four persons succumbed to choleric diarrhoea in Jajarkot today, taking the toll to 176. Yesterday alone, six patients had died.

The dead have been identified as Sitalbar Luhar (2) and Dhanasari Luhar (15) of Basera VDC, Sharada Singh of Nayakbada VDC and one-year-old

Ram Bahadur Nepali of Khalanga VDC.

Despite the claim of district health office that medicines and health workers are present in all the affected villages, Gokarna Chanda of Laham VDC said they had got neither.

Dr Krishnahari Subedi, DPHO chief, said a total of 17,112 patients had so far been treated by the health teams of PLA, Nepal Police and Nepali Army at numerous health camps in the villages. He estimated another 6,000 diarrhoea patients in need of treatment in the district. A team of TU Teaching Hospital led by Dr Rajesh Nepal, that left for the affected areas with a drug load of 1,200 kg last Friday, had returned from the villages. Another team of five assistant health workers deployed from Nepalgunj Medical College has also returned. Nineteen camps have been set up to treat the disease in Jajarkot. These arrangements and the promise of the government for more have, however, failed to convince and treat the sufferers.

“Where are the medicine and doctors the government sent to our aid?” wondered Shiba Prasad Sharma of Khalanga.

The DHO data shows 189 health workers are mobilised with 19,900 kg of medicine in the villages.

Rukum schools closed

RUKUM: As many as 90 schools in diarrhoea-hit areas of the district have been shut indefinitely after a considerable number of students died of the epidemic that broke out last month. The schools notified the closure was due to the fear that the disease could affect every child. — HNS