But when he reached Managhat, Helvetas Nepal, which organized the camp, had already left the village and Adhikari was forced to take 35-year-old Devisara to a local pharmacy with borrowed money. “I would rather have gone to Thalaha, though it is a little further away, had they not pasted up notices inviting us to come for free treatment,” Adhikari complains.
Helvetas had pasted up the notices about the free health camp in villages including Dashera, Karkigaun and Jungathapachaur last week. They organized a three-day health camp starting from July 15 but farcically the camp focused on other health problems rather than diarrhea. “The camp was a case of misplaced priorities. And after setting up a camp, they should have stayed for a few more days,” say locals.
Helvetas Nepal further antagonized the locals by taking their remaining medicines by mule to Mork Bazar and storing them with their local partner when patients at Thalaha, a three hours´ journey from Managhat, were forced to buy medicines from private stores as supplies at the government health camp were exhausted.
Yagya Prasad Pandey, a Helvetas staffer involved in the INGO´s camp, claims that 1,080 patients, half of whom were suffering from diarrhea, were examined in the three-day camp. But he could not explain why the camp was not extended despite such massive inflow of diarrhea cases.
Not only Helvetas, the entire non-government sector does not appear serious about the diarrhea outbreak in Jajarkot at a time when government efforts do not look sufficient. Ironically, no other INGO apart from Helvetas has set up a camp in the 12 diarrhea-affected village development committees of west Jajarkot.
Helvetas, Department for International Development (DFID), International Nepal Fellowship (INF) and United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF) have supplied some medicines and a few health officials. But their efforts seem limited to just showing their presence.
There are around two dozens local NGOs in Jajarkot but instead of helping diarrhea patients, the staff are fleeing back to district headquarter Khalanga out of fear of contracting the disease themselves.
“If the NGOs get really serious about the issue, it will go a long way in controlling the diarrhea outbreak. But they are just paying lip service,” says Ratna Bahadur Singh, a teacher at Thalaha.
The NGOs and INGOs have a wide network in almost every village and can help by just raising awareness about the disease. But they seem to be focused on their regular programs.
“We have not been able to do much because we are obliged to spend the money only on previously approved programs,” explains Jajarkot president of the NGO Federation Khim Bahadur Shahi.
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