The move comes after dozens of people in Kathmandu were infected with cholera and hundreds suffered from diarrheal disease. Such diseases affect people mostly during the rainy season.[break]
The KMC plans to launch a massive awareness campaign in the metropolis, mainly, in the slum settlements. The metropolis will mobilize Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV), distribute chlorine solution and use mass media to spread awareness. The health workers will demonstrate water purifying techniques during the campaign. The UNICEF Nepal and NGO Forum will assist the metropolis to run the campaign.
When asked why the metropolis was slow in organizing the campaign given that the rainy season is coming to an end, Chief of KMC Health Department, Dr Baburam Gautam said, “It would have been better if the campaign was organized before monsoon. But it is never late to do a good work.”
Dr Gautam said the slum settlements will be covered through door to door campaign as most people who suffered diarrheal disease this monsoon were from the slums.
There are 29 slum settlements in the metropolis whose inhabitants mostly depend on water supplied by tankers. The officials attribute the spread of waterborne diseases to the water supplied by tankers.
The officials said that people who drank the water without applying any purifying measures got infected.
There is no record of the number of water tankers run by private sector in Kathmandu and no authority to monitor the quality of water they sell.
“There is a need to ensure the quality of water and regulate the private tankers,” Dr Gautam added.
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