Humla, Aug 16: Citizens of the remote Himalayan district of Humla have lost their lives while waiting for the airplanes. Four infant children have lost their lives in the last one month due to bad weather in the district.
Although the district hospital referred the patients suffering from various diseases to take them elsewhere, they died in the hospital bed due to lack of transport facilities. The only airport in the district, Simkot Airport, has been suffering from lack of air flights for a long time.
Senior ANM Sarita Bohora of the District Hospital said that 6-month-old Imran Sunar of Simkot Rural Municipality-6 Upper Village, 7-month-old Rohit Shahi of Simkot-7, 7-month-old Rohit Shahi of Dandafaya, 17-month-old Aryan Pariyar of Kharpunath-1 and 5-month-old Sandesh Luwar of Changkheli-4 died due to lack of treatment.
“Because the air service was affected, it was not possible to take patients of a serious nature to other places”, she said. Air service in Humla is not regular as the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has implemented a new rule not to fly after 12.30 noon in the Himalayan district. During the rainy season, the weather in Humla is bad in the morning and according to the new rules of the authority, flights are not allowed after 12:30 p.m., so people who have to go outside the district for urgent work, including the sick, are facing more problems.
Suraj Sunar of Simkot Rural Municipality-6, the father of the deceased child, complained that the 6-month-old Imran, who was referred by the district hospital as he could not be treated, could not be taken out of the district for treatment due to lack of flights. He expressed grief over the loss of his son due to the poor economic situation and lack of air service in the district.
According to Dr. Roshan Rawat, a doctor at the hospital, it was recommended that Sunar be taken elsewhere for treatment on Srawan 17. He was admitted to the hospital on Srawan 14 after contracting pneumonia. “The child had problems such as pneumonia, diarrhea, treatment was not possible here”, he said. Sunar died in the hospital on Srawan 26.
