Tuesday, November 29, 2011

NEPAL-Fowl play: Govt responds to #bird flu late

Fowl play: Govt responds to bird flu late

Sends team to site three days after presence of H1N1 virus was confirmed


RUDRA PANGENI/ISHWOR KAJI KHAIJU

BHAKTAPUR: The government’s disastrous response could have resulted in a disaster; it sent its rapid response team to Manohara Khola area in Ward No 16 of Madhyapur Thimi this morning, 72 hours after it was reported that fowls in the region were tested positive for bird flu (H1N1) virus.

The tardy response was largely due to bureaucratic red tape the government agencies follow. Though a report on sample chickens from the region was received on Friday from England where laboratory tests were conducted on them, the government woke up only after three days to deploy a team to cull the fowls in the area where about 25 houses are located.

Asked why such a slow response, Dr Narayan Prasad Ghimire of the Directorate of Animal Health said it took time to call a joint meeting of officials of the ministry of health and the ministry of agriculture and cooperatives and secondly documentation took some more time. “Then the Cabinet decided only on Monday to declare the region a bird flu zone, following which the rapid response team reached the site today,” he said.

When Chandra Bahadur Tamang’s 35 chickens died, he had reported the Directorate of Animal Health on November 10-11. After finding the dead birds positive for H1N1 during preliminary tests, the directorate had sent the chickens to a World Health Organisation-authorised laboratory in England for further tests.

According to Dr Garib Das Thakur, Director, Department of Epidemiology, about three-km area around the bird flu reported site should be immediately sealed. “People living in the reported region should undergo a thorough health check up,” said Dr Thakur, who blamed the ministry for not coordinating with his department. The government-deployed team today culled 500 fowls and dumped them into an eight-feet ditch.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Fowl+play%3A+Govt+responds+to+bird+flu+late&NewsID=311052
Dr Ghimire, however, tried to allay the fears, saying chances of virus spreading were minimal.

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