JAJARKOT: The diarrhoea-induced toll is steadily rising in Jajarkot, a remote district in the Mid-Western Development Region, daily.

District Public Health Office is clearly unable to tackle the growing menace. More so, since the authorities concerned did not wake up to the grim reality on time.

At a conservative estimate, over 6,000 people are suffering from the disease — a figure corroborated by officials of District Public Health Office.

Consider this: The government, which has been in a state of flux since the erstwhile Maoist-led coalition demitted office in early May, mobilised the Nepali Army and NGOs with medicine and health personnel a good two and half months after the outbreak gripped the far-flung villages.

Locals claimed that it was too little, too late to contain the epidemic. They blamed the government for empty promises.

High-level officials, alleged the villagers, made a reconnaissance of the affected areas by chopper, getting absolutely no feel of the situation on Ground Zero. While, medicine was sent from the district headquarters via mules.

“It takes at least three days for the drugs to reach the affected areas,” said Ramesh Bista, a resident of Sunwanauli.

“It baffles me that the government is not at all serious about the epidemic. Practically, each and every household has a diarrhoea patient. People may abandon the villages in large numbers if contingency measures are not put in place soon,” said Ganesh Basnet, a teacher at Shivapuri Secondary School in Garkhakot.

As many as 22 VDCs, including Rokkagaun, Sakla, Nayabada, Bhagwati Ramidanda, Sunwanauli, Thalaraikar, Jungathapachaur, Kortang, Salma, Karkigaun, Pajaru, Lanha, Ahani, Tolegaun, Majkot, Garkhakot, Jhapra, Dhime, Paink, Bhur, Punya and Khalanga, are grappling with the water-borne

disease.

Of the 30 VDCs in the district, Kortang, Sunwanauli, Punya, Archhani, Nayakwada and Lanha are the worst hit.

Patients are flocking to the health camps, whose infrastructure is stretched to the limit, in the VDCS.

In a throwback to the socio-economic profile of the Mid-Western Development Region, the men folk are away to earn a livelihood, leaving the elders, women and children vulnerable to the curable yet life threatening disease.

Over the past few months, as the disease spiralled out of control, the evidence of the government machinery at work was few and far between.

Giriraj Mani Pokhrel,

who was the Minister for Health in the Maoist-led government, had made a trip to the affected areas

by helicopter in the last week of April.

Since then, the situation worsened considerably on the ground. On Tuesday, Minister for Health Umakant Chaudhari and his deputy Khadak Bahadur Basyal reached the district headquarters.

Gagan Bahadur Khadka, district in-charge, Unified CPN-Maoist, alleged that the ministers did not do anything save giving false assurances to tide over the looming crisis.

Krishna Hari Subedi, chief, District Public Health Office, however, maintained that adequate measures were taken.

“Yesterday, 40 kg of medicine and saline water have been sent to each of these VDCs — Telegaun, Punya, Kudu, Jagatipur and Dalli. Remoteness makes it difficult to transport the medicine on time,” he said.

Two deaths reported in Dailekh

Puskar Thapa

DAILEKH: Even as the diarrhoea pandemic in Jajarkot district is yet to be brought under control, two more deaths have been reported in Dailekh district.

Over 100 cases of diarrhoea have been reported in Jagannath and Katti VDCs for the past two-weeks.

The disease is gradually taking epidemic shape in the district although a team of health workers, along with necessary medicine, was already mobilised in the areas since Wednesday.

Locals’ lack of awareness for treating the disease in the health camps and authorities’ prompt response has been worsening the case.

One of the deceased has been identified as Naina BC, a resident of Jaganath-1, while identity of other is yet to be known. BC died on Thursday.

District Public Health Office said that the patients were either not aware of the camps or they were simply reluctant to turn up due to geographical remoteness.

“We have been urging the locals to come for the treatment. However, they do not come to the contact of our team,” said Madan Shrestha, senior assistant health worker, who is also a member of the team

“BC succumbed to the disease as there was no other member in her house to bring her to the camp for treatment,” he said.

Most of the male members have gone out for employment and only the women, children and elderly are left behind in

the villages.People are suffering from different diseases as they lack proper facility of drinking water and food, locals said.

“If the paramedics do not opt for door-to-door campaign to treat the patients, the death toll might surge,” Suresh BC, a local of Jaganath, said.

Contamined water led to outbreak: Health workers

Himalayan News Service

JAJARKOT: Health workers have blamed the consumption of contaminated water as the main reason behind the diarrhoeal outbreak in the district.

Since there are not enough water taps in the far-flung villages, people have no option but to consume contaminated water from wells and streams. They have to travel for up to two hours to reach the wells and streams to fetch water.

“Chances of prevalence of bacteria in water from such sources are very high. This might have led to the outbreak in the district,” a health personnel said.

Though the government, water supply office and several non-government organisations are frequently constructing drinking water projects in rural villages, such projects are yet to become dependable sources of water for the locals. According to the locals, such projects become non-functional in a year or two.

“We have been deprived of potable water. Though some organisations have constructed taps in villages, they have gone dry,” Amar Khatri of Karkigaon said.

According to the data of water supply office, taps are installed in all 30 VDCs under the aegis of Asian Development Bank. However, the presence of taps is limited only on paper.

“Though there are some taps in every VDC, they have already gone dry,” said Surat Kumar Bam, chief, Drinking Water and Sanitation Office. Bam said most of the people dying from diarrhoea are from Dalit families. “Most of the Dalit families do not have toilets. They go near water sources to answer nature’s call,” Bam said, adding, “Long spell of drought this year also contributed to the outbreak.”

He added that the

outbreak could be contained if people started using boiled water and paid attention

to personal hygiene and

sanitation.

Doc scarcity

Himalayan News Service

JAJARKOT: Though health teams have fanned out to diarrhoea-hit areas in Jajarkot, many patients in the district claim they were yet to get proper treatment.

Pare BK of Punma-1 said his wife Motikala (32) was suffering from the disease but was not getting any treatment. “I have visited District Hospital in Khalanga for the treatment of my wife. However, the hospital lacks necessary medicines, including saline water,” BK said, adding, “Local health posts and sub-health posts also lack necessary medicines.”

Motikala, was referred to District Hospital at Khalanga by the health post at Punma. “A peon is running the health post which also lacks medicines. Villagers are not ready to trust the peons,” she added.

Meanwhile, Krishna Hari Subedi, chief at the District Public Health Office, said health personnel and medicines had been sent to depots at Khagenkot and Thalaha. “It will be easy for us to mobilise health workers from such depots,” he added.

Hospitals overcrowded

Himalayan News Service

JAJARKOT: With the government not doing enough to control in diarrhoeal epidemic, more and more people are flocking to private health facilities. Most government health institutions lack medicines in the district.

There are 34 government-owned health institutions in the district. However, they lack necessary medicines due to the mass arrival of patients for the past three months. The health team led by the health minister had brought some medicines in the district a few days ago, which were too meagre vis-a-vis the number of patients. Locals also complained that the patients were compelled to undergo treatment in private medical halls where they have to cough up more money.

“Patients are often lured by the private health facilities due to better quality treatment,” Ragbir Khadka, proprietor of Roshan Medical Hall said.

Meanwhile, INSEC has concluded that the government is not serious to ensure the health rights of the civilians. It also charged that the government’s attempts to control the diarrhoea in Jajarkot and other districts were far from effective.

Issuing a press statement in Nepalgunj, it also reminded the government of the

interim constitution, which states that it

is the responsibility of the government

to provide medical treatment and care to all persons who fall sick due to epidemic and pandemic.

“Even after two months since the beginning of the disease, the government’s carelessness is being resulted into more and more fatalities,” INSEC said.

According to INSEC, over 100 persons have already died and 8,000 others have fallen sick due to the disease in the hilly districts of the Mid-Western Region in the past two-and-half months.

Coliform bacteria, the carrier of disease

Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU: The government has blamed the use of contaminated water for diarrhoeal outbreak in several districts, including Jajarkot, in mid-western region.

Use of contaminated water, lack of proper sanitation and unhygienic practices fuel the outbreak during the monsoon, according to government officials.

Though the government has identified reasons that led to the outbreak, it is yet to raise awareness about the disease by publicising personal hygiene and sanitation guidelines in affected areas.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, laboratory tests of water, stool and foodstuff collected from the diarrhoea-hit areas have confirmed extreme level of coliform bacteria in the samples. “The level of coliform found in water sources in the area is more than 180, caused by human excreta, animal dung and sewage. The presence of coliform in potable water indicates that the organisms (pathogens) causing the disease could be in the water system,” stated a report of the Ministry of Heath and Population.

Diarrhoea can spread through contaminated food or water, or from person-to-person with bad hygiene. When left untreated, severe loss of fluid due to diarrhoea can lead to death of patients.

According to the health ministry, the first case of diarrhoea in the mid-western region was recorded in Jajarkot in the third week of June. The outbreak has gripped more than 26 VDCs, including Ramidanda, Sakala, Rokaya, Suwa Nauli, Thalraikhar, Nayakwada, Punma, Ramana, Talegaun and Garkhakot.

The ministry has mobilised eight medical teams with necessary medicines to the diarrhoea-hit areas in Jajarkot. The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division airlifted 3,000 kg medicines, including saline water, Jeevan Jal, Metronidazol and Liprofloxacine to Jajarkot yesterday. ADRA Nepal has also lent a helping hand to the government in combating the disease by providing medicines worth Rs 7 lakhs.

Apart from Jajarkot, the diarrhoeal outbreak has also gripped neighbouring Rukum, Salyan and Dailekh districts.

According to the government, the disease has already claimed 56 lives in Jajarkot and nine in Rukum. However, local non-government organisations have put the figures at 95 in Jajarkot, 20 in Rukum and four in Dailekh.

Precautions

1. Wash your hands. Hands should always be washed with soap and water or ash and water after defecating, after cleaning a baby’s bottom, and before feeding children, handling food or eating.

2. Keep children clean. Children frequently put their hands in their mouths, so it is important to keep the household area clean and to wash children’s hands often with water and soap or ash, especially before giving them food.

3. Prepare food with care. Food should be prepared and thoroughly cooked just before eating. Food left standing can collect germs that can cause diarrhoea. After two hours, cooked foods are not safe unless they are kept very hot or very cold.

4. Dispose of all refuse in a sanitary way. All refuse should be buried, burned or safely disposed of to stop flies from spreading disease.

What law says

Nepal’s Interim Constitution - 2007

Part III, Article 16:

• (1) Every person shall have the right to live in clean environment.

• (2) Every citizen shall have the right

to get basic health service free of

cost from the state as provided in for

in the law.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

PART III, Article 12:

• The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

• The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:

• (a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child;

• (b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;

• (c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;

• (d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights

Part III Article 6:

• Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.