Apropos of the news story “Stakeholders discuss ways to stop brain drain” (THT, March 19, Page 2), our problem is not so much as brain drain as brawn drain. Apparently close to 1500 migrant workers are still flying out daily on their personal odyssey, keeping the nation’s economy afloat. If there was no brawn drain (and miniscule brain drawn) on this massive scale, something like the annual ritualistic migration on the savannas of Africa, we would have already seen our version of the French reign of terror following the great French Revolution. We can waste time and money on holding superficial programmes and seminars to the benefit of the participants in the form of cash payouts or allowances and diurnal or evening entertainment, but these are not going to offer tangible solutions. The country needs drastic change in its social, moral, ethical and legal fabrics, and end to discrimination in true sense of the word, not just political or educational, to check whatever little brain drain occurs. I was lucky enough to watch a programme on a TV channel last evening participated in by a senior domestic pilot earning Rs. 150,000 a month, a young mountain climber and an Everest veteran. We should all watch this programme to weigh in on the causes of people’s disillusionment in the country. If a person who is drawing Rs. 150,000 is disillusioned in this country because of the hotch-potch and handy-panky ambience in his organization, think about MBA graduates who sell their souls for equivalent of US$ 200 at the most. We do not need great learned debates to pin point the reasons, including politics of opportunity, as pointed out by the young mountaineer who goes on to insinuate that if you are not a member of a party the future is pitch dark. The pilot adds that as a qualified person he does not need to align himself. But unless you are in politics or follow the corrupt system you are out on the road, but to exit the country on brain or brawn drain.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

First doctor

For the first time in Nepal, Karnali zone has a lot to cheer about at the moment. The most backward region in the country has every right to celebrate for the fact that people are now feeling a sigh of relief right there. The District Health Office in Humla has recently received the first female doctor who will be staying there serving the people deprived of even basic health services from the government. Dr. Smriti Mahat has been appointed as the first female doctor with the aim of improving health service delivery for local women and children. Karnali is a region where women and children are found to be suffering from all sorts of health problems with inadequate medical services offered to them. Now the government must provide her every support she needs to provide health services to the destitute people. She cannot do anything substantive unless the government provides health labs and medicines to the office. The government should also deploy doctors in other remote districts.

Pratik Shrestha, Baneshwor