Rajbiraj, September 5:

Two diarrhoea patients died in a temporary camp set up for flood victims in Saptari district last night. Dibyananda Kamat’s six-year-old son Nitesh Kamat of Haripur-8, Sunsari district, died of cold diarrhoea. The boy died while he was being rushed to the Sagarmatha zonal hospital Rajbiraj for treatment, said chief of the Bhardaha sub health post Lal Bahadur Raut. Forty-year-old Sita Devi Magardaita of Sripur-2, Sunsari, also succumbed to the same disease.

The latest death points at a looming health crisis in the camps here. With limited human resources and the acute shortage of medicines accompanied by a steady increase in the number of flood victims at the camps, doctors have been finding it difficult to attend to the patients. As of today, five victims have died of different diseases in Saptari-based temporary camps. Those who died earlier are Anup Sada, 13, Laxman Yadav, 55, and Dukhi Devi Sada, 39, of Sripur. The number of patients is on the rise in the temporary camps, said head of the Sagarmatha zonal hospital Dr Murali Prasad Singh.

Around 25,000 flood victims from Sunsari and India have been taking shelter in temporary camps in Saptari’s Bhardaha, Portaha, Hanumannagar and Rajbiraj. Apart from attending to patients in the camps, medical personnel of the hospital have been treating flood victims in the hospital as well.

Six of the 13 physicians of the hospital have been attending to the patients in the camp, whereas rest of the physicians have been working in the hospital round the clock, said head of the hospital Dr Singh.

“As of today, we have treated at least 12,000 patients,” Dr Singh said. “We will run out of stock of medicines in six or seven days.”

He appealed to all to help the displaced.

Lalu visit

ITAHARI: Indian Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav made an aerial inspection of the flood-ravaged areas in Nepal, including Sunsari, on Friday. Minister Yadav inspected the barrage damaged by the Saptakoshi river. According to a security official in the eastern region, Yadav flew 20,000 feet above the water level and inspected the flood-hit areas. Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs Upendra Yadav and Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato undertook aerial and land survey of the affec-ted area on Friday. — HNS