So far, over one and a half dozen locals are already receiving treatment at different hospitals for the mental disorder.
Five years ago, Raj Kishor Sah, 32, was the first to suffer from mental disorder in the settlement. Since then, the disorder has been spreading among other inhabitants, according to locals. [break]
Then after a year´s gap, Raj Kishor´s 60-year-old mother Marchiya Devi and his brother Ram Sufal also started suffering from the mental disorder.
With three of its members suffering mental disorder, the family is finding it hard to make ends meet. “I have six grandchildren from my two sons. But there is no bread winner and our family is in dire straits now,” said Kailash Sah, father of the two brothers with mental disorder. He said he was worried about the grandchildren´s future.
He further said the three cases of mental disorder are yet to recover although he had taken them to various hospitals in Kathmandu and to Rachi, India. To meet the costs of their treatment, Sah has already sold a bigha of land.
Two years ago, Balak Ray Yadav, 65, and Jhakoliya Devi, 60, also developed mental disorder. Since then others also have come down with the condition.
A majority of the cases in the settlement are elderly individuals.
Two of the locals have already died. Fear that family members may suffer from the same illness has gripped locals.
With the number of mental disorder cases continuously rising in the settlement, outsiders are afraid to visit there, said Bisundar Ray Yadav, principal of local Sangrampur Secondary School.
He said the mental-disorder patients are creating terror in the settlement. Some of them hurl stones at newcomers visiting the settlement.
B.K. Prasad Chaudhary at Garuda Medical Hall has provided primary treatment to over half a dozen mental disorder locals and informs that the number of patients has increased lately. According to Chaudhary, the patients showed symptoms like headache, dizziness and increase in the heart beat rate, among other things.
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