Taking Its Toll

The delay in the government’s plan to vaccinate people in the western region is taking its toll

By THAKUR AMGAI

Even though the government’s assurance of beginning the vaccination process in time had convinced the people of western terai and they had felt some relief the disease has actually taken a larger toll than the previous year thanks to the lack of implementation of the plan.

The death toll in the government hospitals has crossed two hundred and it is obvious that the total sum of the deaths in their villages, private clinics and across the boarder is much larger. The government owned media Gorkhapatra daily has reported the number of deaths to be 181 in Nepalgunj Regional Hospital alone from among the patients from five districts.

This disease has been affecting thousands of people in the western terai since almost past three decades. However, the practice of responding only after the deaths from the disease hits the newsstand has become almost like a ritual for the health officials.

While the officials have shown themselves to be honest by conceding that they failed to initiate the vaccination process in time, the scenario looks more ridiculous this year. Dr. Mahendra Bahadur Bista, the director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division had informed that if World Bank gives the money as pledged then the government will launch an extensive vaccination program that will address up to 7,00,000 citizens of the western terai.

The Bank did give Rs. 135 million to the government, but the government failed to procure vaccines for Japanese Encephalitis from the same.

"The vaccines are urgently needed but the purchase tender was not finalized on time which caused the delay in receiving the medicines," said Hari Nath Acharya, the spokes person at the Ministry of Health.

The delay in the initiation of the bidding process and the lack of coordination between different government agencies led to the failure in procuring the vaccines. The senior officials at the Ministry of Health could not decide whether to accept the bid or not when only one bidder showed interest.

According to reports, the senior officials were scared of actions from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for awarding the contract without fulfilling the regulations. According to the government regulations, there must be at least three bidders for any tender to be valid.

The events have taken an interesting turn now. The CIAA, that the health officials feared, has initiated a process against Health Ministry officials on why they failed to procure vaccines in time resulting into loss of hundreds of lives.

According to doctors, while the effect of the disease can be easily controlled with a little caution in maintaining hygiene and sanitation, vaccination is the most feasible way to control it.

According to a study report released about four years ago, the death toll from Japanese encephalitis had significantly gone down in Bardia, Rupandehi, Dang, Banke, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts after vaccination program were launched there. However, the vaccination program could not continue with the same momentum in the subsequent years because of the conflict-related problems.

The outbreak of common disease like encephalitis and diarrhea with heavy tolls, have become regular in Nepal every rainy season.

The government has taken various measures to control the outbreak of the disease. "The government has taken stringent measures to control the dreadful disease and is hectically spraying insecticide and distributing mosquito nets so that the people may not be affected by it," said Acharya.

Most of the deaths occurred in Nepalgunj, Banke and Kailali, he said. However, the locals have said that the measures are too little too late. According to doctors, mosquito transfers the disease from an infected person or pigs and ducks.

According to government figures, last year 360 people had died because of encephalitis. Encephalitis has been affecting the Terai districts of Nepal since 1978 and taking heavy tolls on the lives every year. The disease was first spotted in Japan in 1928 and is suspected to have transferred to Nepal through the immigrant workers.

The disease normally spreads through mosquito-bites during the monsoon season, which starts in June and ends in September. But, this year since the monsoon was delayed the spreading of the disease started from second week of August.