Foreign and Nepali tourists have been losing their lives in the touristic Mustang due to the risks of high altitude and lack of health awareness.
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Thirteen tourists, including nine foreigners, have died in Mustang due to altitude sickness due to mountain 'high altitude' till Jestha 15 of the current fiscal year.
The District Police Office has mentioned that the religious tourists who came to visit the holy mountain shrine Muktinath here died due to altitude sickness.
According to Police Inspector Santosh Basyal of the District Police Office, 13 tourists have died due to altitude sickness in the 10 and a half months of the current fiscal year. Among the deceased, there are three men and one woman among Nepali tourists and seven men and two women among foreign tourists.
All the tourists who came to Mustang for religious pilgrimage died due to altitude sickness in Waragung Muktikshetra and Gharpajhong rural municipalities and died while undergoing treatment at the Provincial Hospital Jomsom, Police Inspector Basyal mentioned.
According to the statistics of the Police Office, most of the deaths due to altitude sickness in Mustang are Indian tourists. Tourists coming from the plains of the valley to the mountainous areas of the Himalayan district of Mustang are facing the problem of death due to altitude sickness due to failure to take adequate health precautions and vigilance. Police Inspector Basyal said that tourists coming here face the problem of altitude sickness due to low oxygen levels in the high altitude mountainous areas above 3,000 meters above sea level.
The concerned government offices here have also been conducting public awareness programs to reduce the problem of altitude sickness due to high altitude. The Provincial Public Health Office, ECAP, Muktinath Development Committee, local levels and security agencies have been conducting various activities related to high altitude.
An awareness sign board regarding the problem of altitude sickness has been placed at Thasang-4 Ghansa, on the border of Myagdi and Mustang, along the Beni-Jomsom road section of national pride. ECAP Chief Rajesh Gupta informed that ECAP has put up boards in places where there is tourist activity from Ghansa to Muktinath this year. Similarly, the Provincial Public Health Office has also printed signboards and brochures related to high altitude and distributed them to tourists, said Senior Public Health Officer Vidya Tamang.
To reduce the risk of high altitude and protect the health of tourists, portable oxygen cylinders and anti-altitude medicines have been arranged in all hotels in Muktishtehra, Waragung-1, according to Muktinath Hotel Association President Suraj Gurung.
The incidents of altitude sickness have not been reduced because the relevant travel agencies and hotels have not been able to provide adequate information about high altitude to tourists visiting Mustang. The problem of altitude sickness has also become complicated due to the practice of various tourist travel companies taking tourists to their destinations together without holding them. Health workers here say that to stay safe from the risk of high altitude in high places, one should travel holding them at different places.
To protect the health of Muktinath pilgrims, the Provincial Hospital Jomsom and Baragung Muktikshetra have set up a 'High Altitude Treatment Center' at Muktinath Temple, informed Khagendra Bohora, Health Coordinator of Baragung Muktikshetra. According to Coordinator Bohora, the service is being provided from two places, the Muktinath Temple premises and the rest area built by the Nepal Army on the staircase leading to Muktinath.
