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
