Cases of dengue and malaria, the vector-borne diseases more prevalent in the southern plains, have been reported in Baitadi, a hill district in Province 7. 

A boy from Pancheshwor Rural Municipality-4, suffering from high fever and severe headache, was taken to India in August after his treatment was not possible in the local health facilities in Baitadi. The minor was diagnosed with dengue during treatment in the Indian city of Faridabad.  

According to the District Health Office (DHO) records, 67 cases of malaria were reported in the district last year. Most of the malaria patients were from Melauli, Shivanath and Pancheshwor. The detection of ‘new diseases’ has left the health workers and the local people in the district anxious. Baitadi does not have health services for the test and treatment of dengue. “None of the current health facilities in the district is capable of testing dengue and carrying out treatment. We refer the patients to Dhangadhi if we suspect they are infected with dengue,” said Santosh Pandey, an officer at the DHO. “In the absence of proper testing kit, it’s quite difficult to detect dengue.”

However, Baitadi District Hospital and health institutions in Patan and Melauli have health facilities to test malaria. The DHO said it had been conducting tests on the suspected malaria patients for free. All the health institutions in the district have been instructed to remain alert and launch awareness campaign to fight malaria, the DHO said, adding that it had distributed mosquito nets to pregnant women in the affected areas, including Shivanath and Maharudra villages.  Mosquitoes are found even in settlements on high hills nowadays, locals complain. “These insects are found in Satbajh, Dehimandau, Khodpe, Shreebhawar among other villages even in winter in recent years,” said Janak Bahadur Chand of Shreebhawar.