Lack of scrub typhus test kits in Sankhuwasabha

Shekhar Khatri, the information officer of the hospital, informed that the district hospital has run out of test kits for scrub typhus since August 21. According to him, 332 scrub typhus and 111 dengue patients have been found in the district since last May. Khatri said that due to the lack of kits in the hospital, patients who come for treatment have to pay high prices to go to private hospitals and clinics to be tested for scrub typhus. In private hospitals and clinics of scrub typhus, where the test is free in the district hospital, one has to pay between one thousand to one thousand two hundred rupees.

Information Officer Khatri said that the Ministry of Health in Koshi Province has been requested to provide the scrub typhus test kit and the patient will be sent to a private hospital as the kit has not yet arrived. Despite repeated requests from the hospital, the hospital administration said that there has been no hearing about sending kits from the Ministry of Health.

'This disease occurs when bitten by an infected insect. If you get this disease, symptoms such as headache, high fever, swelling and pain around the neck and throat, and swelling of the glands are seen,' said Information Officer Khatri. He said that as the number of patients infected with scrub typhus and dengue is increasing daily in the hospital, there is also a shortage of beds.

The hospital, which was built in 2033, now has 50 beds. Beneficiaries from 10 local levels of the district as well as more than half of neighboring district Bhojpur come here for treatment.