'Mystery disease' of Jajarkot
NVC conducts surprise check at four ministries, finds 16 absent...
The only mystery about the 'mystery disease' that has affected 2,000 people in Jajarkot district in the Mid-West, some muse, is why it took the government nearly two weeks (and 12 deaths) to respond. Infectious diseases don't appear out of the blue. The mystery illness in Jajarkot—characterized by sore throat, muscle- and head-aches, and high fever—is most likely be one of the well known ones, perhaps typhoid, or cholera. The reason it has not been identified so far is, first, because there are no reliable testing labs in Jajarkot and, second, because the government didn't bother to investigate for so long. Since fluid samples from victims are now in Kathmandu for tests, the thin veneer of mystery will soon be lifted. That brings us to why it took the Health Minister and his team so long to respond. Back in 2009, late response was the primary reason behind most of the 300 deaths in the area from something as common as diarrhea. And therein is the tragedy: most of these deaths could have been avoided by things as basic as hand-washing and clean water. But for the beleaguered folks of the Mid- and Far-West, even basic health care remains a distant dream.
The dismal health outcomes in these parts are, again, not a result of chance. Nearly half the households in Jajarkot don't have access to potable water; less than a quarter have proper toilets. Absent even these rudiments of good hygiene, it is a surprise that diseases, both mysterious and commonplace, are so rare. Or perhaps we simply don't hear of them unless the situation assumes crisis proportions, as is now the case in Jajarkot. The headlines of people dying intermittently, surely, pale in comparison to the juicy tidings on political intrigues in Nepal's never-ending constitutional process (part II). So we hardly hear of 11,000 children under five who are dying every year from diarrheal diseases in Nepal. But it's a national scandal if 12 of them die at a place, within a few weeks. Like the swarm of cameramen attracted to sites of jihadi attacks, the attention of the comfortable classes in Kathmandu is suddenly piqued.No surprise, then, the lack of trained health care personnel in remote districts like Jajarkot and Bajura, another epicenter of the 2009 diarrhea epidemic. Forget qualified doctors, even health assistants shun these remote districts. The infrastructure is as dismal. Nurses at the 15-bed district hospital (the one and only in Jajarkot) are forced to treat most of their patients under open skies. As a result, when a disease first breaks out, the sick, instead of going in search of the non-existent doctors, just assume that time will serve as the healing balm. The illness comes into light only when people start 'mysteriously' dropping like flies that infest their food. This puts into context Dr Govinda KC's demand that new medical colleges be opened in these parts of the country where they are most needed. Now try convincing that to the cash-hungry medical mafia and their pliant political masters.
