The Community Health Unit Center located in Darma Rural Municipality-5 of Salyan has been operating inside a tent built on a steep slope for 16 months.

Ramidanda of Jajarkot was made the center point and the earthquake that happened on the night of 17th October damaged the building of the center. Since the reconstruction of the building has not been completed, it is being operated in a tent.

3 million budget was allocated in Salyan for the construction of damaged structures. From that, 5 million was allocated for the building of the Community Health Unit Center. Although Infrastructure Development Office Salyan has tendered and proceeded with the work through contractors, it seems that it will take a few more months to complete.

Due to having to operate in tents, it has become difficult for the health workers to provide services and the patients have also been affected. When it rains, water gets inside, it is very hot in the summer and it is difficult in the cold, so the health workers have not been able to provide services easily. There is no room to store medicine and other materials, so everything is stored inside the tent.

'There is only one tent in which we have to keep medicines and materials such as beds, tables, drawers,' Yagya Bahadur Khadka, the head of the center and a health worker, said, 'The storm of a few months ago made a hole in the tent. It is very healthy because the water leaks and it is very hot in the summer.' No more than three or four people can stay inside the tent.

Today, due to the increase in the number of viral fever and cold patients with the changing weather, up to 20 people are coming for treatment every day. "Since there is no place to live, everyone should be kept outside in the open," Khadka said, "We requested the municipality to provide services even if someone's house is rented.  It is very difficult now," he said. He says that the risk of landslides is the same because the tent is buried in a steep place. "We are worried about how to provide services if it becomes an epidemic as diseases like viral fever, cold, and diarrhea are increasing," he said. Heera Oli, a female health worker at the

center, says that it is more difficult to provide services to women who come for pregnancy tests due to the lack of necessary materials. You have to take a pregnancy test while lying down. A separate room is needed for that, but the work has to be done in the tent. Because of shame, some people don't agree to get pregnant,' she said.  

According to Yagya Bahadur Basnet, head of the health branch of the rural municipality, it seems that it will take another three months to complete the building. He said that from next June, health workers will not have to suffer to provide services.