The Brew That Cheers

WITH the Tea Development Policy-2057 coming into effect, the government, as per a news report carried by this daily, not only has plans to increase the annual output of tea from the existing 8.3 million kilograms to 46.1 million kilograms within the next 10 years, but also to bring more lands under tea cultivation during the same period by, among others, giving necessary incentives to the farmers. The increase in tea production, apart from earning a profit amounting to Rs.14 billion annually for the nation, is also expected to generate employment opportunities for about 80,000 Nepalese. Though Mother Nature seems to have overlooked Nepal while disbursing mineral resources, she has definitely compensated this oversight by endowing the nation with various climatic and topographical variations that are congenial for the cultivation of myriad grains, fruits and crops. Amongst the latter, one is the cultivation of the brew that cheers—that is, tea.

Although the history of tea cultivation in Nepal is hardly a few decades old, almost all Nepalese are familiar with this crop and brew, thanks to the import of tea, mostly from our neighbour down south of the border. One ready reason why the nation, until a few decades back, was without any tea estate worth the name could be due to the mistaken belief that the nation lacked suitable soil and climatic conditions. While this notion, mercifully, has been completely debunked by the flourishing tea estates in the eastern districts of the nation, the urgent need to put more hectares under tea cultivation to meet the increasing demand for tea at home and abroad has not been lost to the government and concerned parties alike. However, bringing more land under tea cultivation without coming up with necessary infrastructure in those areas and incentives for the cultivators could, in the long run, dampen the interested farmers and parties’ enthusiasm to go in for tea cultivation. For one, tea plant has a fairly long gestation period, especially in the hills, before it could yield the desired output. Secondly, it requires adequate inputs in the form of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides. Herein, while the government’s recently announced incentives in the form of soft loans and tax breaks to interested farmers should be termed as timely and adequate, it goes without saying that the concerned authorities must come up with requisite measures to ensure the qualitative and quantitative enhancement of tea production in the country.

Diagnostic Facilities

TIMELY and correct diagnosis of any disease is the first and single major step towards combating it. More so, in cases of afflictions like cancer where controlling the disease depends on how early and how accurately the diagnosis is made. In a country, where healthcare is too expensive for the average population, availability of primary health services along with timely and accurate diagnosis can make all the difference between life and death. This means that there should be adequate facilities, resources and skilled manpower to speedily and accurately detect and diagnose the patients’ diseases. However, the number of pathologists and other infrastructure related to clinical pathology are severely lacking in our country. The number of pathologists we have is insufficient, to say the least as the seven medical colleges alone in our country need more than one hundred fifty pathologists while we are making do with only thirty-six. More worrying to note is that even this meagre number of pathologists are mostly confined to urban areas where, for reasons best known to the concerned health authorities, most of the health delivery institutions are located.

The Third Ccongress of the Association of Clinical Pathologists of Nepal that began the other day was participated in by more than one hundred experts to enhance the quality and capability of clinical pathologists for timely diagnosis and detection. However, until and unless there are other concrete moves on part of the government and other non-governmental agencies in the field of health like the medical colleges and hospitals, the facilities for diagnosis will remain in short supply. Even while we lack resources, it is important that first of all the quarters which matter should realise the importance of accurate and timely diagnosis. Only when enough stress is laid on the fact that timely diagnosis will not only reduce the number of patients succumbing to diseases but it will also save a lot of expenses which our people cannot afford, that importance of diagnosis will receive its rightful attention. It is not overnight that pathologists can be trained. It will take efforts from all the concerned quarters including the Ministry of Health, medical colleges and the new joint venture private hospitals to begin a move towards training personnel and building the facilities for clinical pathologies before correct and timely diagnosis becomes a reality for our ordinary people. It will take concerted efforts and great motivation also on part of the Association of Clinical Pathologists of Nepal before we acquire sufficient clinical pathology infrastructure to fulfill the diagnostic needs of not only the major hospitals but also those situated in the outlying areas.