Bajura, May 31

Locals of the far-flung Gumba village at Himali Rural Municipality in Bajura  are deprived of basic health services. The village is home to 200 people from 25 families.

The rural folks are compelled to rely on herbs as they have to spend the whole day to get a  Cetamol tablet. Sanchura Gurung, a local, has been suffering from fever for a month now, but she is relying on herbs. “I am taking herbs at my home as it takes a whole day to get to the nearest health post and also there is no guarantee that I will meet a health worker there,” Gurung said.

Like Gurung, all the residents of the village live on herbs when they fall sick. “It is not possible here to carry sick people to the hospital,” said Mamata Kunwar, adding “There is no alternative to herbs here.” No one has used contraceptives till date in the village as one has to go to the health post to get them. Local health volunteer Pasang Lama said, “No one from here has used any contraceptive, including condoms and pills, as one has to walk for hours to get to the nearest health facility.”

According to her, a woman gives birth to up to 11 children as women do not use contraceptives in this remote village. The government has set the target of making the country fully immunised by 2017. Surprisingly, children at Gumba village have yet to get basic heath service such as immunisation. The village has 36 children below the age of five. Of them, 20 are below the age of two. Lama said an assistant health worker from Bichhyan Health Post came to the village and administered vaccination to children, a year ago. No child has been vaccinated ever since, she added.

A child below the age of two should be administered 11 types of vaccinations, including BCG, PC and JE vaccines, mandatorily.  Local Doma Gurung’s child is eight months old. She has yet to get her child vaccinated.

Similarly, another local Laxmi Kunwar has three kids. They have not been administered any vaccine yet. Chhamu Thapa said they were aware about the need for their children to be vaccinated, but their children have not been administered any vaccine as there is no health post in their village.

Kamal Acharya, in-charge at Bichhyan Health Post admitted that children from Gumba were deprived of vaccination. District Health Office Chief Dr Rupchandra BK said his office would come up with a plan to make the delivery of health services effective.