Amchi, a community that has hitherto been treating people with traditional medicine using natural herbs, has now set up hospitals to provide treatment facilities in organized ways. These people have opened Amchi hospitals in various Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Upper Dolpa. The hospitals have been registered under District Administration Office. Amchis are monk priests. According to Amchi Gyalgean Lama, hospitals in Phoksundo, Saldang, Bhijera and Dho VDCs have already started providing service. "When there were no such hospitals, we used to go to the houses of patients. But now patients themselves come to the hospital," he said. The Northern Hills Conservation Project (NHCP), which is under Se-Phoksundo National Park, provided moral as well financial support for the opening of hospitals. Despite the existence of modern health posts, which were set by the government, people did not receive necessary treatment due to absence of health officials. According to locals of Upper Dolpa, with the opening of Amchi hospital, they can now access treatment for health problem. Dr. Purusottam Sedai said, that health posts of Phoksundo, Saldang, Bhijera and Dho VDCs have been merged with Amchi hospital.

Since calling the Amchis to the patients' home was a long-standing tradition, most Amchis still visit individual homes, although hospitals have been opened. Lorke Lama, office assistant at Amchi hospital in Phoksundo says, hospitals won't be able to gather patients in a short time due to the deep-rooted tradition here. "There is no scarcity of manpower in the area. Almost all VDCs have monasteries and all of them have Amchis. If all Amchis come together, leave alone local people here, the service can be extended to many more people," according to Karma Lama, a local of Dho VDC. "Then the quality of service will also be improved." Lama also said that at least 30 patients come to the hospital at Dho every day. However, the biggest concern is, though it has been getting financial support from NHPC, it will not be sustainable if help stops. "The government should take necessary steps," he added.

OTHER NEWS

• Kathmandu-Tibet bus service likely: An eight-member delegation, led by Director General of Department of Transport Lila Nidhi Koirala, is leaving for Lhasa of Tibet on October 24 to conduct site visit on possibility of operating direct vehicle services between Nepal and China. The seven-day visit is expected to lessen problems being faced by the passengers and traders who had to change vehicles at the border areas and expedite the process of direct bus and cargo services along the 912km route between the two countries. Although Nepal and China had signed a Transport Agreement in May 1994 to pave the way for passengers and cargo vehicles between Kathmandu and Lhasa, the agreement is still not brought into force.
  
  
• Caste discrimination rampant: Experts working for dalit welfare expressed that dalit communities in Karnali zone have remained vulnerable due to lack of sensitivity on the part of policy makers. Speaking at a workshop - "Dalits, problems and potential solutions in Karnali zone," organized by Dalit Welfare Organization District Branch, Jumla in the capital, Sunday, Dr. Tanka Nath Sharma, an educationist said, "Leave alone other spheres where there is no representation of educated people, even students in schools are segregated by teachers in Karnali, if a student belongs to the dalit community. And the practice is prevalent in both government and NGO-supported schools." Sharma, who worked in Karnali zone for more than ten years, said that in some of the schools of Jumla, dalit students have to stay outside during the entire school period. In some other schools of the zone dalit students are not allowed to sit with students of higher caste families, he informed.
  
  
• Landslide buries vehicles: At least six persons, including a child, were killed, and a dozen are still missing in a landslide that buried a passenger bus and a truck at Dovan VDC-5, on the Palpa-Butwal road at around 8:30 on Friday evening. Truck driver Lal Bahadur Thapa and helper Rudra Bahadur Buda were rescued alive. Security forces and local residents dug out six bodies of passengers traveling in the ill-fated bus with registration number Na 2 Kha 7794, bound towards Butwal from Tamghas, the headquarters of Gulmi district.
  
  
• Nepal's first planetarium launched: Nepal's first planetarium was launched here Tuesday by Everest Science Center Nepal (ESCN). Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari inaugurated it at the Kathmandu Plaza, Kamaladi. The inflated dome-shaped portable planetarium offers visual presentations on astronomy, human anatomy and microorganisms, among others. It is pitch dark inside the inflatable dome where one can view a virtual night sky dotted with stars. A double-plate projector makes alternative presentations possible. Inaugurating the planetarium, DPM Bharat Mohan Adhikari commended ESCN, a private organization, for introducing it in Nepal even without any government support.
  
  
  

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu