Doctors’ absence affects patients

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BIRGUNJ, July 3 - Since only half of the total doctors assigned to Narayani Sub-regional Hospital in Birgunj are currently working in the hospital, patients coming to the hospital as well as employees of the hospital are facing serious problems.

There is a provision for apointing 51 doctors in the hospital, but only 26 doctors are present.

Patients are encountering problems due to the absence of doctors specialising in different areas on the one hand but on the other, employees of the hospital are also bearing the brunt after they are unable to receive their salary because the income of the hospital has dwindled in the absence of many doctors.

Nearly 175 employees hired by the Hospital Development Committee have not received salary for the month of Jestha (May-June).

The hospital which is visited by nearly 100,000 patients every year has provision for two physicians. However, Dr Ashokanand Mishra was the only physician in the hospital and after his transfer from this hospital six months ago, no replacement has been sent here.

There is a provision for two doctors for mental patients, two surgeons, two ENT doctors and three dentists in the hospital, but in reality, there is only one doctor in each of these areas in the sub-regional hospital.

Similarly, there are only one gynaecologist and one anaesthetist in place of two doctors in each area and there is not a single nutrition expert in place of two.

There are two types of employees in the hospital: those who are appointed by the government and those who are appointed by the Hospital Development Committee. They also receive salary accordingly, for example, the government pays salary to employees appointed by it and the committee pays salary to employees appointed by it. The flow of patients declined drastically due to the lack of doctors specialising in different areas and it has been difficult for the hospital to pay salary to those who draw salary from the committee fund.

In the same way, the government has fixed 40 doctors from its quota and the committee 11 doctors from its quota, but in reality there are only 24 doctors appointed by the government. As five of them are also on leave, there are only 19 out of 40 government doctors.

The Hospital Development Committee has fixed its quota of 11 doctors but it has appointed only seven doctors from its quota, according to hospital sources.

Replying to a question as to why all the doctors were not appointed, Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr Ram Avatar Khetan, said he had made correspondence to the concerned Ministry for filling up the vacancies but it was in vain.

He further said as doctors were not available in the hospital in proportion to quota fixed, he has to face tension daily as the result of hospital’s inability to pay salary to its employees and the pressure to examine the patients.

Ex-Kamaiyas being rehabilitated

KATHMANDU, July 3 (RSS)- A meeting was held at the meeting hall of the Bheri Technical School in Nepalgunj recently with the objective of rehabilitation of the freed Kamaiyas from Dang, Banke, Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts and to familiarize the Land Registration Committee members about the Kamaiya Rehabilitation Programme.

Members of the Freed Kamaiya Rehabilitation District Working Committee, Banke, teachers at the Bheri Technical School, International Labour Organization representative and representatives of Banks attended the meeting.

It was disclosed at the programme that so far 7060 former Kamaiya families had been rehabilitated by providing them with housing facilities and land and that efforts were on for the rehabilitation of the remaining 6,500 former Kamaiya families.

It is learnt that a three-year agreement has been reached under which approximately 6,000 metric tonnes of grains would be made available to 18,000 former Kamaiya families under the Food for Work Programme as part of the rehabilitation efforts.

Similarly, the Ministry of Forest has directed bodies under it to provide 76 cubic feet of timber to each ex-Kamaiya family free of cost for housing purpose and land has also been set aside for construction of school, sub-health post and other facilities at the place where land has been allocated for rehabilitation of the ex-Kamaiyas.

Speaking on the occasion, secretary at the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management Keahav Raj Rajbhandari called on all the employees, social workers, Non-Governmental Organizations and Local Administration to help in the rehabilitation of the marginalized erstwhile Kamaiya community.

It was also informed at the programme that many former Kamaiyas were taking electrical and mechanical training at the Bheri Technical Institute.

Secretary Rajbhandari also inspected the Agricultural Training Programme at Kohalpur Agriculture Institute where many ex-Kamaiyas are receiving the training.

Likewise, he inspected the Kamaiya settlements at Rajhena-3, Bankhet (Kohalpur) and acquired information on the immediate needs of the rehabilitated Kamaiyas.

Hydro-power measuring software launched

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KATHMANDU, July 3 – HydrA-Nepal, a new and innovative PC-based software package that provides a rapid means of estimating hydropower potential at any location in Nepal was launched amid a workshop in the capital today.

The two-day REFRESHA (Regional Flow Regimes Estimation for Small-scale Hydropower Assessment) Dissemination Workshop that started today aims to provide an overview of the HydrA-Nepal software and the background to its development in the first day. In the second day, more detailed information will be given on the hydrological model and the appropriate application of the software, including hands-on training.

The workshop is a part of REFRESHA project with the aim of providing a reliable method for estimating the hydrological regime at ungauged sites in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan region of Nepal in order to assess the small hydropower potential of such sites.

The software, HydrA-Nepal is the outcome of a three-year REFRESHA project that was funded by Department for International Development (DFID), UK. The project was undertaken by Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), UK in close collaboration with Nepal Government’s Department of Hydrology and Metrology (DHM) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

The workshop is being organised by CEH, DHM, ICIMOD, ITECO Nepal (P) Ltd and is sponsored by DFID.

As the developers claim the HydrA-Nepal is ideal for –Hydropower assessment at gauged or ungauged sites; rapid hydrological assessment for regional planning; preliminary design and turbine selection; comparision of power output for different turbines; reducing expenditure on hydrological surveys and selecting key sites for more detailed investigation.

‘Over 50 pc population in Nepal suffer from malnutrition’

KATHMANDU, July 3 (PR)- A two-day workshop on Organisational Assessment of the Need of Nutritionists in Nepal organised by the Central Department of Home Science, was held in the capital, today.

The programme stressed on the acute need of a large number of community nutritionists that are capable of working to improve the health and nutritional status of the people.

Prof. Dr Indira Sharma, workshop co-ordinator, stressing the need of a sound academic programme said, "Offering only postgraduate level course for food and nutrition is not enough unless the products of this programme fulfil country’s need of nutritionists".

Over 50 percent of the population in Nepal are suffering from malnutrition despite micronutrient initiative, the National Vitamin A Programme and various other programmes to reduce malnutrition in the country.

Dr D.B. Chataut, Director General of Health said, "In such a case, it is important for all multi-sector organisations to work together".

The workshop facilitated by Akershus University College Norway and Tribhuvan University was sponsored by UNICEF.

Police re-arrest youth after he was released

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BUTWAL, July 3 - Police re-arrested a youth who was detained by the police on the charge of being involved in Maoist activities after he was released by the Appellate Court in Butwal on Monday. Dinesh Chapagain of Shivapur in Kapilvastu district was arrested by the police again from the gate of the court, according to his family source.

When Chapagain was arrested from Nepal Adarsha higher secondary school, his father Lila Ballav Chapagain had filed a petition Habeas Corpus with the Appellate Court. Giving its verdict, the court had decided that it would be contrary to the existing laws to keep Chapagain in custody and had ordered his release.

After the court verdict Chapagain was standing inside the court premises, confident that he would be allowed to go home. Meanwhile, police in plain clothes pushed him up to the door of the court and arrested him. According to eyewitnesses, his father was trying to snatch his son from the police, requesting them not to arrest him, but they pushed him on the ground, put Dinesh in their van and drove away.

However, Butwal Ilaka Police Office does not admit that Dinesh has been arrested.