Nepal: Hospital Unable to Cope With Diarrhea Patients

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fu...&folder=aHaoamW&Name=Home&dtSiteDate=20080614

Hospital Unable to Cope With Diarrhea Patients

Kishor Budhathoki
Sankhuwasabha, June 14

Diarrhoea outbreak has gripped the district headquarters, Khandbari, and adjoining areas resulting in the Sankhuwasabha district hospital unable to cope with the rising number of patients.
Number of diarrhoea and dysentery patients has shot up suddenly with villagers having no alternative but to consume polluted water being supplied to Khandbari, Syabun, Dhupu, and Sittalpati.
With few beds, the patients were being kept on the floor and benches, said chief district public health officer Dr Rudra Prasad Marasini. The patient rush is so much that even critically ill patients were deprived of beds, he added.
Though the Khandbari hospital has 15 beds in total, the number of diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid patients alone is 20.
According to the hospital, the drinking water being supplied to Khandbari is contaminated and other sources of water used by people of adjoining areas are also not potable. This lead to an epidemic if remedial measures were not taken, the hospital warned.
A team of health workers after testing the water source at Sekaha in Khandbari-5 yesterday said the water there was not fit for drinking.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Nepal: Hospital Unable to Cope With Diarrhea Patients

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/28/content_8455315.htm

Diarrhea claims 6 lives in western Nepal
www.chinaview.cn 2008-06-28 19:00:10

KATHMANDU, June 28 (Xinhua) -- At least six people have died due to an outbreak of diarrhea in a remote village in Jumla district in mid-western Nepal over the past two weeks.

According to a leading website, nepalnews.com Saturday's report, the epidemic has badly hit Gadhichaur village, some 380 km west of Kathmandu, which lies at a seven hours trek from district headquarters Khalanga, affecting more than 100 villagers.

Most of those who have died are children, the report said.

However, Gadhichaur sub health post doesn't even have basic medicines to distribute among the villagers suffering with the disease.

 

[Oracle]

Cause of water supply contamination

Cause of water supply contamination

Parched Valley
G. K. Pakavath
The Rising Nepal, April 28, 2008

Come summer, and residents of the Kathmandu Valley begin to feel the heat. They have to brace themselves for yet another parched season with most parts in the region facing an acute water crisis. Inefficient distribution networks are compounding the problem. Residents of Kathmandu Metropolitan City have been getting water supply at low pressure for just an hour at midnight that, too, only on alternate days.

Dry wells
On a sunny morning, a woman toils over the hand pump for an hour and all she gets is a trickle in her brass vessel. The area, Rajtirth, is located near the Bagmati River. Many of the wells are reduced to puddles or contain contaminated water.

"This year, it is worse because the wells are drying faster as the groundwater level has been depleted. I am compelled to evict some of my tenants," says Bijay Raj Shrestha, a resident of the locality.

Each household in the area has to make do with four vessels of water. "It is not enough. We bathe once every four or five days. And drain the water through a cloth before pouring it into the water filter". The residents of the locality know that the spurt in the cases of diarrhoea, dysentery and fever among their children is related to drinking water but the solution continues to elude them.

Most of the residents are depending upon the mysterious sources of water along the banks of the River Bagmati, though it is not known well whether the quality of water from such sources is fit for human consumption. Overdependence on such sources has led to their drying up. This has left the Kathmanduites wondering what peak summer would be like if conditions have worsened already.

It is pitiable to be having such a scenario for a country rich in water resources. The 6 million population of the Kathmandu Valley that comprises the three metropolitan cities needs about 190 million litres per day (MLD). The Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) produces only 90 MLD. Of this, about 30 per cent is lost from leaking pipes and pilferage. Effectively, people get just about 63 MLD.

While the demand is steadily on the rise, additional sources of water are very limited. The current shortage is as much as 46 per cent which means if a person needs 100 litres per day, one has to make do with 33 litres. Remember, the supply is made only on alternate days. Therefore he/she has to make to do with just about 17 litres per day.

The people who hold the answer are not mincing words. Rising an alarm bell on the valley's water situation, officials at the Nepal Water Supply Corporation said recently that the gap between the demand and supply of water in the valley has been widening incessantly. As the gap is being met by drawing groundwater, the water table is falling at an alarming rate. And as the valley?s dependence on groundwater grows, its overexploitation has left the water table severely depleted.

Experts say that ground water should be left alone as a contingency reserve and not as a source of regular supply. There is a very thin layer of sweet groundwater left in some parts of the city that will be over if the exploitation goes on at the current pace, without any efforts to recharge it. A bill that would restrict the use of groundwater and put a charge on it could be an appropriate step.

That is bad news, considering that the demand for water will always be greater than its supply here due to the increasing population. At most, the supply can be augmented to the desired level when the Melamchi project starts commissioning, but it will be years before that materialises. Beyond that, there is no water for the valley. As the groundwater is going down alarmingly and the Melamchi water seems to be a distant dream, we need to look for alternative sources.

Rainwater harvesting
It is a pity that years of living with acute water scarcity have not made us look for an alternative arrangement other than talking about the Melamchi project. One such solution is harvesting rainwater. In the current scenario, storing each and every drop of rainwater and directing it to the aquifers is the only way of ensuring the valley's survival. This solution, according to water management experts, has the potential to fortify the Kathmandu Valley against the acute scarcity of water.

All forms of harvesting - rooftop and through water bodies - coupled with economic use of the precious fluid has become essential. If we employ this solution, we should no longer be overly worried about scarce water resources or the prospect of privatized water management services. A bill that would strictly enable the new constructions in the valley to install rainwater-harvesting systems would be a nice idea to minimize the problem.

(NGOs are currently using rainwater harvesting as a low-cost, low-tech solution to longterm drought in Africa with considerable success)