They warned that any epidemic outbreak in monsoon could be catastrophic.
Several national and internal instances of natural disasters like earthquake, flood and landslide shows that the losses exceed in the aftermath of the major disasters. Over 8,000 people died and thousands were infected with cholera in Haiti after the2010 earthquake.
"The situation could go out of control if we do not take precautions and prevent such an outbreak," Dr Ramesh Kharel, Director at the Primary Health Revitalization Division (PHRD) of the Department of Health Services (DoHS), said. The MoHP has deployed Dr Kharel in Nuwakot to manage the health care services at the local level after the earthquake.
According to Dr Kharel, most of the health facilities of the district have been destroyed in the quake and health workers face the challenge of providing health services from tents. He informed that almost all the houses in the district have been destroyed and people have been compelled to live under the open sky.
Moreover, open defecation is rampant. "Providing pure drinking water to the people is another challenge," added Dr Kharel. Dr Kharel informed that he has urged the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) to launch awareness campaigns and distribute chlorine in all households to purify drinking water.
"Restoring primary health care services is one of major challenge facing us. The earthquake not only destroyed our health facilities but also the community support system," Dr Baburam Marasini, director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD), said. He informed that there is no place for health workers like doctors, nurses, auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM) and auxiliary health workers (AHW) to stay, as all the homes in the remote VDCs have collapsed and there is no possibility of reconstructing them before monsoon.
"The government has decided to resume health care services from tents. Let's see how much possible it is," added Dr Marasini. He said that in other countries, local Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) fulfill the void in the remote places, where there is no presence of government agencies but in our country the situation is just opposite.
Spokesperson at the MoHP, Dr Guna Raj Lohani also admits that dealing with the situation during upcoming monsoon would be great challenge.
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