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VOL. 03, NO. 04, July 16, 2009 (Shrawan 01 2066)
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OUTBREAK IN MIDWEST
Devastated By Diarrhea
The government bungles as over 100 people die of diarrhea in Midwest. More worryingly, the parties and NGOs remain silent spectator
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
The three months of epidemic in the Midwestern hills have exposed how thoroughly dysfunctional the state system has become in dealing with such crises.
Hurtling from one political crises to another, Nepal seemingly is losing its capacity at all levels. In all those months, it was not only the government that bungled; equally conspicuous were the political parties and the NGOs, by their absence.
It had been three months since diarrhea started raising its head in Jajarkot district.
As Kathmandu was gripped in a nasty politicking – starting from the army chief sacking episode to installation of a new government and the continuous parliament blockade for months – the building epidemic in the hills of the Midwest were out of everybody’s radar.
The poorly equipped and even poorly manned health outposts in the remote regions were hardly any match for the deadly epidemic that slowly engulfed neighboring Rukum and even Dailekh districts.
It was only after the body count surged with media reports stating deaths of over 100 – only half the number has been confirmed by the government officials though – that the situation attracted any attention.
The Ministry of Health was caught with its pants down.
However, the senior officials claim that they have done everything possible to bring the situation under control.
“We are not resting. We have been mobilizing manpower and medicines. We have also started mobilizing Nepali Army personnel for the purpose,” said Dr. Dirgha Singh Bam, Secretary at the Ministry of Health.
Where Were They?
While the government was ineffective, as usual, the problem of this magnitude called for massive intervention by the political parties and the NGOs working at the field level.
The big political parties who use their tens of thousands of youth workers to block the road or organize a strike at the drop of a hat and at a lightening speed, were nowhere near the affected area.
It was only after media reports complained of paralyzed political machinery that some of them began to make noise saying they are mobilizing their cadres to help deal with the situation there.
“It was a shame that none of the political bigwigs including Maoist chieftain Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ who likes to call himself a messiah of the poor made a single visit to the affected region in the entire three month period,” a local health official complained.
Equally worryingly, the NGOs were also very slow to respond to the challenges. “Arguably, there are thousands of NGOs that work in the health field. One would assume that they would have taken up the mantle once the local government health posts failed to contain the outbreak. That, alas, didn’t happen and thousands of people suffered from the disease,” added the official.
Belatedly, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal took over the charge of deploying government machinery to contain the outbreak. In recent days, a number of helicopters were flown in with medical reinforcements.
In what could be called as a silver lining in the dark cloud, some good Samaritans, too, have emerged from this episode. Apart from the local health workers – who are working beyond their means round the clock – one Rajiv Bikram Shah chartered a helicopter by himself and sent medicines to the area.
At the end of the day, it is a big jolt to the senior government officials that despite huge investments and massive campaigns raising health awareness, people are stilly dying by hundreds of simple and easily preventable diseases like diarrhea.
“We do need a separate policy to deal with diarrhea. This is a lesson we have learnt,” said Dr. Bam.
