Iodised salt use not yet common in remote areas

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: A person needs only about one tablespoonful of iodine during his lifetime, if he lives up to 80 years of age. But a deficiency of even this minute amount has resulted in severe physical and mental deformities as well as disabilities among the Nepali people.

Iodine deficiency causes miscarriages, cretinism, mental retardation, dwarfism, deafness and dumbness, sterility and others. The most visible sign is the goitre, a condition where the thyroid gland becomes swollen mainly due to a lack of iodine.

The best way to meet the requirement of iodine is through the intake of iodised salt. The report 2000 prepared by the Ministry of Health says 91 per cent of the total population now have access to iodised salt, an improvement from 83 per cent in 1998. The Salt Trading Corporation (STC), the public enterprise responsible for distributing salt in the country, plans to make iodised salt available to 95 per cent of the population soon.

Although more than 90 per cent of the Nepalese people have access to iodised salt, only about 63 per cent regularly use it, which comes in plastic pouches. Many people in the rural areas still go for the common salt, which is not iodised.

Chief of the Nutrition Section at the Child Health Division of the Health Ministry, Sharada Pandey, said that packaged iodised salt constitutes only 25 per cent of the total salt supplied and consumed in the market. Even in districts like Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, the actual use of iodised salt does not exceed 80 per cent, she said.

In many outlying areas near the border, the unauthorised entry of non-iodised salt from across India is a major problem. But the major problem is the lack of awareness among the people. The report points out that people in the remote areas are not aware about the need and importance of iodised salt and, thus, suffer from various ailments related to iodine deficiency. To generate awareness about the importance of iodine in one's diet, Nepal has been celebrating October as 'Iodine month' since 1995.
Executive Chief of STC Parmeshor Mahasheth, while speaking at a programme today to mark World Iodine Month, said that the Corporation has set up an iodine-mixing plant at Tatopani along the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Similar plants are coming up in Jumla and Mugu in western Nepal. He said that there were also plans to launch iodised salt mixed with calcium and magnesium for the patients of high blood pressure.

STC has offices in 68 of the country's 75 districts. The STC is facing problems supplying iodised salt to all the rural areas due to the security problem.

At the programme, Minister of State for Health Mohan Bahadur Basnet launched a new product of the STC 'Super IoNun' and distributed prizes to 101 individuals and organisations, who helped in the distribution of iodised salt last year.

Minister Basnet said that the corporation should have a multi-sectoral approach to achieving the target of providing basic health services to all the people. "In this regard the government has given top priority to public health," he said. The iodisation programme has been launched in 117 countries around the world.

11 pharmacists face action

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Oct 3: A joint inspection team of the Department of Commerce, Department of Drug Administration and local administration office has taken action against 11 pharmacists in the Kathmandu Valley for selling banned medicines, storing date-expired medicines, selling medicines without keeping the price list and failing to justify the prices and for not keeping signboards.

"During its inspection, the team found 178 tablets of a combination of Norfloxacin and Tinidazole, a banned medicine, and 20 other brands of medicines whose date had expired, of a spurious nature, and those with unclear labels and batch number," said the Department of Commerce. The medical store also failed to provide registration papers and a license authorising it to sell medicine.

Similarly, Prem Chandra Jha, proprietor of AA Pharmaceutical of Tripureshwor, has also failed to justify the difference between the cost price and the selling price of four medicines. The samples of those medicines have been sent to the Laboratory of the Royal Drugs Limited for tests. The pharmacy also did not have a signboard.

During its inspection, the team also found four pharmacies - Alfaz Medical Hall, Gorkhali Pharma, Shiva Pharmacy and Thimi Pharmacy - at Dudhpati of Bhaktapur of selling medicines without the sellers having ID cards. The team has also instructed Narayan Prasad Medical Hall and MT medicine shop of Thimi and Vaidya Pharma of Sallaghari, Bhaktapur to contact the Department of Drug Administration within seven days.

Those who were also instructed to contact the Department within a week are Sharada Pharmacy of Pulchowk, P & P Polyclinic of Satdobato and Shanti Pharmacy of Lalitpur. They were found selling medicines without a license.

HIV/AIDS prevention council formed

RSS

KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: The government has constituted a 41-member National HIV/AIDS Prevention Council with Ministers of various 16 ministries and representatives of various political parties as well as non-governmental organisations as its members under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, while Secretary at the Ministry of Health will be its member-secretary.

The Council will specifically formulate appropriate policy suitable for the country and in consonance to society and culture, take co-ordinated measures for launching crusade against the disease and approach and reach understanding with various donor agencies to ensure the availability of financial resources.

Provisions for a 15-member national HIV/AIDS co-ordination committee under the chairmanship of the health minister, and another 15-member executive committee under the health secretary and with Director of the National AIDS and Sexual Diseases Prevention Centre as the member cum secretary have also been made under the Council.

In this context, the first committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister at the hall of the Development Council at Singha Durbar here today. At the meeting, the Prime Minister released the logo of "Unity against AIDS" and said that everybody should be sensitive and ponder over the adverse social and economic impact of AIDS that has assumed alarming dimension in a small and underdeveloped country, Nepal.

Ambassadors, vice chairman and members of the National Planning Commission (NPC), HMG secretaries and council members were present at the meeting.  At the first Council meeting, a synopsis of the current HIV/AIDS scenario in Nepal and new strategies to cope with it were presented.

Deuba attends receptions

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KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba attended a reception hosted by the Korean ambassador here today on the occasion of the National Day of Korea. Also present on the occasion were the Chief Justice, the Speaker, the Rajparishad Standing Committee Chairman and the general secretary of the CPN-UML. Likewise, leaders of various political parties, diplomats, industrialists, businessmen and other distinguished persons were also present on the occasion. Meanwhile, Prime Miniter Deuba attended a reception hosted by the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany here today to mark the German Unity Day. Politicians and intellectuals from varous sectors of the society were also present at the reception.

Deuba expresses condolences

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KATHMANDU, Oct. 3: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed sorrow at the demise of Dilkumari Rathaur, mother of Arun Prakash Singh Rathaur who is the president of Bardiya district committee of the Nepali Congress (Democratic).

In his condolence message, Prime Minister has wished eternal peace to the departed soul and prayed to the God to provide strength to the bereaved family to bear the grief.