Kathmandu, September 29:

To control the outbreak of different seasonal diseases and saving lives, the Ministry of Health and Population has set up separate funds ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 meant for distribution in each of the 19 districts of the central region, Dr Mahendra Bahadur Bista, the director-general at the Department of Health Services, said.

The funds will be allocated for controlling three major diseases plaguing the districts, namely gastroenteritis, viral influenza and typhoid.

The central review meet held recently at Hetaunda arrived at the conclusion that the health sector has improved a lot despite many hurdles, Dr Bista said. It noted that a lot needs to be done to bring down deaths due to malnutrition and a high rate of maternal mortality.

The review meet also brought to light strengths and weaknesses of programmes conducted by the DoHS.

Ram Chandra Man Singh, the secretary at the Health Ministry, said, “In order to bring down high maternal mortality rate and deaths due to malnutrition, the government has adopted a decentralisation policy and launched a community mobilisation programme.