Ramechhap, January 27

Patients at Saipu VDC, Ramechhap have been compelled to receive treatment in a bamboo hut for the last two years, after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake destroyed the VDC's health post.

The health post used to operate from a four-storeyed building until the earthquake destroyed it. Chief at the health post Jaya Prakash Raya said they could not accommodate more than two patients at one time because of the lack of space in the tiny hut.

As many as 15 patients come to the health facility for treatment daily. Health workers said four staff members, including an office attendant, were there in the office.

As many as 27 such health facilities in the district were destroyed by the quake, and they are all facing the same problem.

Dr Prakash Prasad Sha in the District Health Office said that UNICEF had forwarded the process of repairing 13 health posts, but it has yet to come into operation. He said that his office has been preparing to demand that higher authorities run the health facilities from rented houses for the time being.

There are as many as three primary health centres, 51 health posts, and one sub-health post in the district.