Kailali, August 17

Scores of displaced flood victims have begun to fall ill in Kailali.

With a large number of victims falling ill, the health facilities have witnessed huge crowds of patients suffering from various diseases including jaundice, typhoid, diarrhoea, viral fever and common cold, among others, said Bhajani Primary Health Centre In-charge Birendra Sapkota.

The health facilities are short of beds as well. “So, we have started treating patients on the floor,” said Sapkota. He also said that the health facilities were facing a drugs crunch.

Dozens of villages of Tikapur, Bhajani and Bauniya, Thapapur, Dhansinghpur, Narayanpur rural municipalities, among others were inundated due to the flooded rivers. More than 2,000 houses were inundated in the floods in the district alone. Elderly and children have been hit the worst after consuming contaminated water and sheltering in the open.

Natural Disaster Rescue and Relief Distribution Committee Coordinator and Acting Chief District Officer Mohan Raj Joshi said that a large number of health workers were mobilised to avert a pandemic outbreak in flood affected areas of the district. “We have been hit by shortage of manpower and drugs. We have distributed foodstuff and other essentials in an organised way by forming six shelters,” said Joshi.

The victims, who were taking shelter at local schools, offices of community forests, public and state owned buildings, and others, have gradually begun to return home with the water level receding.