Kathmandu, August 13

The Ministry of Health has set up Health Emergency Operation Centre with a view to disseminating information regarding flood affected districts in the country.

At a press meet today, the ministry said the centre would remain open from 9:30am to 5:00pm and provide information about the situation in flood affected districts and ongoing relief and rescue work across the country.

Satya Acharya, Bhim Sapkota, Laxmi Marasini, Sanjeev Gautam and Upendra KC have been appointed contact persons who will be available 24 hours a day . Earlier, the centre was operated after the April 25, 2015 earthquake in the country.

On the occasion, Minister for Health Giriraj Mani Pokharel urged all medical practitioners to give priority to work, rather than attending training, seminars, workshops and staying on leave in this hour of crisis. He instructed them to help flood victims move to safe places and provide them medicines. The minister urged the concerned local levels to allocate 60 per cent of the budget to flood victims in the districts.

The minister also informed that rapid response teams had been kept on high alert and that teams of health experts had been deployed in various flood-affected areas to make sure that the victims get medical aid and epidemic diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis, did not get rampant.