Gopal Prasad Pandey, a senior health assistant, was serving at the health desk of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu until recently. But since his transfer to a health post in Chandragiri Rural Municipality, Pandey visits the airport only during nights to sleep.

"We all have been transferred to local levels. The health desk at the airport is without staff. It will be shut down very soon. I am just waiting to hand over the documents and keys," Pandey told the Post.

According to Pandey, he and his colleagues at the health desk were transferred, one after another, as part of the civil servant adjustment process.
Chandra Khatri was transferred to a health facility in Surkhet some two weeks ago while Bhuwan Hamal was transferred to a health facility in Godawari Municipality.

Two other health workers deployed to the airport by Nepal Mental Hospital were also recalled recently.

Of the nine health desks established by the government, the one at the Kathmandu airport was the only one in operation.

"We are aware of the fact that the only health desk that was in operation is now without staff,” said Bibek Kumar Lal, director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, the agency responsible to run health desks. “I have taken this issue up with concerned officials at the Department of Health Services and the Health Ministry."

Setting up health desks at international entry points—international airports and overland crossings— is the responsibility of the government, as Nepal is a member state of the International Health Regulation, and has committed to responding and preventing public health risk.

To set up health desks and strengthen them with equipment and trained human resources is part of the commitment.

The World Health Organization says high traffic can play a crucial role in the international spread of deadly diseases through the people’s passage and goods.
The closure of the only functioning health desk at the country’s sole international airport, which receives around 10,000 international passengers daily, is a cause for concern, say experts.

"We have informed the concerned agencies of the Health Ministry about the lack of staff at the airport health desk,” said Pandey.
According to Lal, the government, on more than one occasion, has ignored his office’s proposal to appoint permanent staff at the health desks at border crossings and international airport.

"A team of experts from the International Health Regulation are set to visit the country next year to monitor the condition of our health desks, but we have nothing to show," said Lal.

Meanwhile, the division has allocated Rs eight million each to set up international health desks at eight border checkpoints to the respective local levels.
Earlier, the division used to provide the budget to District Public Health Offices.

But none of the District Public Health Offices has so far set up permanent structures for the health desks.
Lal said that his office has also requested the concerned agencies of the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation to build facilities for health desks at the international airports.

Dr Gunanidhi Sharma, a senior public health administrator at the Health Ministry, said that running health desks at land crossings and the international airport is mandatory and that the ministry will fulfil its international commitments.

“We are working to create permanent posts of health workers at the health desks,” Sharma told the Post. “The ongoing employee adjustment process has created some turbulence, but we are committed to fixing the problems.”