NA’s health camp benefits Palpa villagers

PALPA, NOV 04 -

A free health camp organised by the Nepal Army’s Chandi Prasad Battalion at Jhokendi of Foksingkot VDC in the district has benefited 104 people in the area.

According to Jitendra Thapa, the battalion chief, the camp was organised as part of the Army’s social responsibility initiative after they found out that there were many people with genuine need of proper check-up and treatment in the area.

According to Dr Kalpana Rawal Khadka, most women in the area were found to have been suffering from high blood pressure, menstruation related problems, uterus prolapse and skin rashes, while the children and men had skin rashes, high blood pressure and scabies, among others.

Yam Bahadur Thapa, headmaster of the Mangaladevi Primary School, said the high blood pressure seen in men could be attributed to the tradition of consuming alcohol.

The one-day free health camp witnessed participation of around 80 percent of local women.

Ranisara Gharti, 80, who had walked for three hours from Belumja to the health camp, said she had been depending on local shamans for years, but it was after the check-up at the camp she found

that the problem plaguing her for years was something else.

Dr Khadka said she was suffering from gastritis and high blood pressure. According to Gharti, this was the first time that had ever visited a doctor. “Let’s see if the medicine given to me does any good,” she said, adding that she would be happy to be relieved of her illness.

Bhawisara Saru Magar, another local who came to the health camp, said many villagers opt to go hospital only as the last resort.