Border health desks are in disarray

The management aspect is also seen to be weak for the effective operation of the health desk. According to the Ministry of Health and the department, travelers suspected of various infectious diseases coming to Nepal through India are subjected to health checks at the health desks at the border crossings.

As the health check-up along with the screening of such patients is done at the border, The risk of infectious diseases entering Nepal is very low. Covid, Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV infectious diseases are tested at the border. However, if you visit the border crossing on the ground, the reality of the health desk is very different from the statement of the Ministry of Health and the department.

Where is the health desk operating at Belhia Naka? There is no guarantee . Not even the signboard of the healthdesk . Where will the passengers who entered Nepal through the border be screened? Where to do the health check and blood test of the suspected infected passenger ? Where to keep the infected passenger ? The whole process is chaotic and messy due to lack of physical infrastructure. .

"It is very difficult to operate due to the lack of manpower, equipment and physical infrastructure required for the health desk," Lalmohan Chaudhary, in charge of the Belhia health desk, said, "The health workers have to suffer a lot during the rains and summers due to the lack of arrangement for screening passengers." As there is no place for blood testing, we are forced to stand on the road with a kit in our bag.' According to

Choudhary, apart from the daily movement from the border, travelers coming to Nepal from India who stay for several days are questioned and screened about infectious diseases at the border. Due to the lack of manpower according to the requirement, 24-hour health check-up has not been done at the checkpoint.

Since there is no laboratory room, the staff carry bags with kits and other health equipment from home and bring them to the checkpoint. They take it with them when they return . Due to the lack of kits, the testing of covid has been blocked for the past six months. With the covid test being started at the border during the covid infection, the government has permanently set up health desks for the control of other infectious diseases including covid in the major checkpoints of the country including Sunauli/Belhia.

The government announced that the health desk has been put into operation in order to meet the international standards to be adopted at the border. Due to the government's lack of interest in providing the necessary manpower, equipment and other physical infrastructure, it has been reduced to a formality and limited only to the name, Belhia border health desk.

Dr. Prakash Budhathoki, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said that health desks are operating at 16 borders connected to India, including Belhia. He said that manpower has been assigned to operate 24 hours at three-four important checkpoints and at other checkpoints from 8 am to 8 pm.

Health desks have been operated at the border to prevent the entry of various infectious diseases from foreign travelers and infectious diseases that have been eradicated in Nepal, he said The monitoring room of the health desk at the border is often empty. When do concerned persons including health workers come and check the identity and health of sick passengers? There is no regularity . Instead of health workers, the monitoring room at Dasgaja border seems to be a haven for taxis, drivers and middlemen who are not related to the health desk.

The passengers are coming from India from Dasgaja border in front of the health desk. The healthdesk is deserted . No one is stopped and questioned. There is no health check for tourists. Health checks and screening of suspected patients are limited to formality. In charge of

Health Desk, Chowdhury said that a team of health workers reached the monitoring room in the morning and checked the Nepali travelers who came from far away in India and after 11 o'clock, it was too hot to sit in the monitoring room which was covered with a tent. There are no such structures that work easily in the health desk. The information that the testing work has been interrupted due to the lack of kits and other equipment has not been made available even though we have repeatedly informed the relevant authorities," Chowdhury said.

According to him, in the last fiscal year 2080/081, 7,277 people were tested for Covid, 5 infected, 912 people were tested for HIV, and 1,595 people were tested for tuberculosis. were fallen .

The management of border health desks operating under the union government is under the responsibility of the provincial health directorate. Earlier, the laboratory was operated in the building of the immigration office in Belhia.

In front of the immigration office, a tent was built as a rest room for the tested passengers. During the road expansion, after the destruction of those structures and infrastructure, the health desk laboratory and rest room at Belhia crossing has become without.

Siddharthnagar municipality has provided a room in its possession at the border crossing for the health desk. However, because there is no good arrangement of lighting in that room, neither the air-conditioner nor the computer works . Summer can't sit still. Due to the non-availability of land for building construction, the budget of around 50 million provided for the construction of a permanent health desk building has been frozen for the past two years .

Ministry spokesperson Budhathoki said that he has not come across any information that the lack of physical infrastructure at Belhia Health Desk will affect the work. On the other hand, the contracts of all the health workers working at the Health Desk have not been renewed since the appointment period expired in June. Employees are worried about the uncertainty of re-appointment/non-reappointment. Belhia Healthdesk employs 10 people including 3 office assistants, health assistants, health assistants and lab assistants .

Those employees appointed by the provincial directorate will receive salary from the union. Last year, I was forced to work without an appointment for eight months. I had to work without salary for two months', asking not to be named, an employee said, 'Even now, what will happen to your appointment ? Due to the confusion, the employees are not in the mood to work properly.'

Dr. Binod Kumar Giri, Health Director of Lumbini Province Health Directorate, admits that due to the lack of physical infrastructure and other structures, the Seema Health Desk of Belhia has not been operationalized effectively. "Due to the lack of physical infrastructure, the Belhia health desk is not being organized, so work is being done slowly," Giri said, "The necessary infrastructure is not available for the health desk to be operated at the border."

He said that the health desk operated at Krishnanagar Naka in Kapilbastu was also not effective due to lack of infrastructure.