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A case for reflection



The Himalayan Times
16 May 2014
A case for reflection

The outbreak of jaundice in Biratnagar has already claimed the lives of ten people in the last two weeks and does not seem to be under controlled looking the increasing number of affected persons visiting the government and private hospitals. More than 1500 people have been found to be severely affected in different wards of Morang district. This is an unfortunate and unusual outbreak occurred in the urban areas where literate population reside in comparison to the rural areas with less accessibility of health facilities.

The roles played by the government owned health institutions do not seem effective with regard to taking precautionary measures once few cases of jaundice were seen in the outskirts of Biratnagar. The local population have to be made aware of taking necessary measures to chase away jaundice. A massive awareness campaign has to be immediately initiated by the District Health Office and its sub outlets in coordination with local news media, FM radios and youth clubs. It’s still not too late to do so in order to save the lives of other innocent people.

The leakages in the piped water have to be immediately repaired in order to save the drinking water from getting contaminated. Moreover. it is unfortunate to see the urban population still believing in shamans to get rid of diseases as reported in “Jaundice patients resorting to shamans” (THT, 15 May, Page 3). This indicates that the people have concerns about the reliability of health services provided by the existing health outlets. Otherwise, there is no better treatment for jaundice other than allopathic and Ayurvedic medicines.

Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharajgunj, Kathmandu

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