GERMAN EMBASSY SEEKS COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGED LOMOUSINE Kathmandu, 20 June: German embassy has sought damage for its damaged limousine through a diplomatic note sent this week to the foreign ministry. The vehicles was damaged when opposition demonstrators led by NC and UML pelted the ambassador’s vehicle as the envoy was proceeding to TIA to see off Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to Brazil to attend a UN-sponsored conference on sustainable development. The embassy defied the protests Monday to go to the airport althoughsecuritys also the government’s responsibility. The foreign ministry has shown ‘deep interest’ in the incident for which an apologyhas been issued diplomatically. Nnnn GOVT. EXPENDITURE PICKS UP AS ANNUAL FISCAL YEAR IS ENDING Kathmandu, 20 June: Government has spent Rs. 275.56 billion or 72 percent of the money earmarked for the annual budget 2068/69 as the fiscal year ends mid-July, the finance ministry said, The government has spent only 56 percent of the development budget, the ministry said quoting Nepal Rashtra Bank. nnnn . PAKISTAN TRADE FAIR GATSS OFF WEDNESDAY Kathmandu, 20 June: Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce is holding a trade fair at the World Trade Center in Tripureshwor Wednesday. Governments of the two countries and FNCCI are supporting the event. nnnn PEOPLE THRONGING TO HOSPITALS WITH ONSET ON MONSOON IN VALLEY Kathmandu, 20 June: With the much-awaited monsoon rains hitting the country, the threat of waterborne diseases looms large in the Kathmandu Valley. More people have started thronging the only government hospital for tropical and infectious disease—Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH)—for treatment, Manish Gautam writes in The Kathamandu Post . Waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid and gastroenteritis break out due to the consumption of polluted water and contaminated food items in the monsoon. “Although the patients have just started coming, we are fully prepared to deal with the cases of waterborne diseases,” said Dr Inda Prasad Prajapati, director of Sukraraj Hospital. Physician Dr Shanker Bahadur Shrestha said people have to be more careful and start practicing personal hygiene seriously to keep communicable diseases at bay. Diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis A and B, typhoid fever, malaria and also dengue remain a threat with the monsoon arrival in the Kathmandu Valley, said Dr Shrestha. He all should consume clean water, wash hands with soap and water frequently, maintain personal cleanliness and take fresh foods, among other things. “The typical symptom of diarrhoea is watery stool. It is dysentery if the stool is mucus and the patient suffers from cramping and fever,” said Dr Shrestha. “Diarrhoea could be dangerous if not treated on time.” Similarly, Dr Shrestha said typhoid fever also remains a threat to Kathmandu denizens. Typhoid is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi. “People get infected after eating contaminated food or drinking beverages,” Dr Shrestha said. “The only way to mitigate the typhoid risk is paying attention to food and drinking habit and referring the people showing those symptoms to the nearby hospital.” The symptoms of typhoid include high fever, malaise, headache, constipation, and diarrhoea, rose-coloured spots on the chest and enlarged spleen and liver. Dr Arjun Raj Panta, pediatrician at STIDH, said every year the hospital detects cholera, which occurs mainly when drinking water contaminated by monsoon rains reaches the pipeline of human beings, posing high risk of cholera infection. He said if symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting are seen, patients should be immediately taken to hospital and if the infected are children and elderly, they have a higher risk of infection, which could be fatal. “As the roads are covered in dust, there is high chance of cholera outbreak,” said Dr Panta. “People can reduce the chance of contracting cholera by maintaining cleanliness, drinking only treated water or other safe fluids and eating cleaned and well-cooked food.” Last year, the District Public Health Office, Kathmandu, recorded around 7,500 cases of typhoid and 12 cases of cholera in the Capital. The World Health Organization says Japanese encephalitis is a leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia with 30,000-50,000 clinical cases reported annually. In 1996, according to the WHO, Nepal saw 697 cases with 118 deaths suspected by Japanese encephalitis and in 1995 the total number of JE cases reported was 772 with 126 deaths. nnnn CHINA NEW MARKET FOR NEPALI HASH Kathmandu, 20 June: On Tuesday, a satellite police unit under the Narcotic Drugs Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU) confiscated 7 kg Nepal-made refined hashish, which was about to be parcelled to Beijing via Bangkok, Ankit Adhikari writes in The Kathmandu Post. However, since it was an official from the Goshwara Hulak Karyalaya, Sundhara, to take the parcelled drug to Tribhuvan International Airport, the peddlers are still at large. “But since we have the address of the person who was supposed to receive the parcel, we may be able to find some leads soon,” SSP Nawa Raj Silwal of the NDCLEU said. “We shortly took the official in custody. But nothing fishy was found about him. Investigations are under way.” Another parcel containing 9.9 kg hashish was also about to be sent to Amsterdam, Netherlands, by the same process. According to NDCLEU chief DIG Yadav Adhikari, despite strict law enforcement in China, many youths there do drugs. “Therefore, we always had the suspicion that hashish is being supplied to China from Nepal,” he said. SSP Silwal said there are already a few cases of police investing Nepal-China drug smuggling. “But since we lacked concrete proof, we were unable to intervene directly,” he said. Pharmaceutical drugs racket busted In three different operations carried out by the NDCLEU on Saturday, police netted seven members of a smuggling racket involved in the illegal trade of controlled pharmaceutical drugs. One of the arrestees, Chadra Bahadur Pode, 48, of Bhaktapur was on the most wanted list of the police for several years. During Saturday's operation, police confiscated around 2,200 capsules each of controlled medical drugs buprenorphin and diazepam. Other arrestees are Suraj Singh, 19, of Sarlahi, Sabin Khadgi, 21, and Sachin Deula, 25, of Kathmandu, Anu Shrestha, 31, of Inaruwa, Sher Bahadur Shrestha, 38, of Sindhuli, and Rajan Deula, 39, of Bhaktapur. Pode, who was involved in criminal activities earlier too, served one year in prison from September 2009. According to the police, Pode, who seems to have mastered the smuggling of pharmaceutical drugs, could also be the kingpin of the racket. “We have found that he uses female suppliers like Anu for the retailing of drugs peddled across the open Indo-Nepal border,” said Silwal. Pode's friend, nicknamed Nagraj, who is also wanted by the police, is at large. “With Pode's arrest, we are hopeful of tracking down Nagraj soon.” Meanwhile, DIG Adhikari said buprenorphin and diazepam are popular among city youths in Nepal. “Since many cannot afford heroin and refined hashish, they turn to controlled pharmaceutical drugs,” he said. nnnn