Nepal’s health system at breaking point, claim doctors

Co-operation between relief agencies crucial, learn from mistakes made post Haiti quake: Leigh Daynes, Doctors of the World

Medical personnel from the humanitarian organisation Doctors of the World, which has long-term maternal health programmes near Kathmandu and in more rural areas of Nepal, are worried that the country’s health system is at breaking point and urge co-operation between various aid agencies to increase effectiveness. The charity has sent 20 tonnes of medical supplies and an emergency team of 12 doctors and surgeons to support survivors in Nepal. They already have a 40-strong team on the ground and another emergency team, including doctors and surgeons, who arrived recently.

Urging agencies not make the same mistakes as they did with the Haiti quake, where many agencies piled in but did not cooperate enough to be truly effective, Leigh Daynes, Executive Director of Doctors of the World UK said, “We are at the very beginning of understanding the scale of this disaster as we begin to reach those in rural outlying areas. And access is still being hampered by blocked roads and damaged infrastructure. We are facing huge logistical difficulties. As well as roads being closed, aftershocks have prevented planes from landing at Katmandu airport. On the first day, our staff counted at least one aftershock every 20 minutes. The first days after a disaster are the most critical. It is in this time that we can work the most effectively on traumas, fractures and injuries sustained by those crushed by rubble.”

Pointing out that Nepal’s health system was vulnerable before the earthquake, especially in rural areas, he says that now post the earthquake, the healthcare system has completely collapsed, hospitals and other medical facilities are overrun and medics are in desperate need of support. “A third of children were malnourished, there was only one doctor for every 5,000 people. Now it is a catastrophe. This is partly the result of the failure of the international community to invest in Nepal. Much like the Ebola crisis in West Africa, we failed to create a resilient health system that can cope with catastrophes like this,” he said.

Hospitals are incapacitated, infrastructure has been decimated and thousands of people are sleeping on the streets. With monsoon season only weeks away, this is a catastrophe of the highest order. Hospital capacity, food access, hygiene and diseases are especially pressing health concerns, especially given mass homelessness after the earthquake, all of which will become worse when the rainy season sets in, according to a release from the charity organisation.

Cautioning that the challenge now will be the organisation of relief, as relief organisations will all be arriving together, so they have to be organised, he also gave credit to the solidarity of the Nepalese, who were the first to respond and have worked tirelessly.