With the extreme cold in the Himalayan district of Jumla and Upper Karnali, the number of cold patients has started to increase. The life of the district has been affected by the increased cold for a week.
Life in Jumla affected by the Cold
The number of patients in the hospital has increased after the cold. Dr. Rajendramani Giri of the Department of Medicine of Karnali Institute of Health Sciences Teaching Hospital Jumla informed us that more patients have started coming to the hospital for treatment than before.
Due to the cold, the number of patients with fever, cold, asthma, and cold diarrhea has increased in health centers and other institutions here. He said, ‘On average, 100 patients come for treatment, but at this time, up to 290 patients are coming for treatment.’
Children, the elderly, and pregnant women are more affected by the continuously increasing winter. According to Dr. Giri of the institute, problems such as whooping cough, fever, asthma, wheezing, and pain are seen in children, the elderly, and pregnant women. Life in the Himalayan districts of Upper Karnali including Jumla has become difficult due to the sudden increase in the cold.
It is very cold in the morning. The cold has reduced activity in the capital Khalanga. Mun Bahadur Aidy, a local resident of Patarasi Rural Municipality, said that it is very difficult for vehicles to move on the road in the morning. “It is not possible to leave the house because of the cold”, he said.
The cold has made the students who came to the market from the village to study tuition healthy. Due to the cold, the local level here has given winter vacation to the public schools, according to the local level education branch. Cold is a problem for students including small children.
Sunita Rawat, a resident of Chandannath Municipality, said, ‘Children who do not have warm clothes face many problems.’ Not only children are affected by cold, but senior citizens are also in trouble.
According to local residents of the district, the problem of working with cement, gravel, and sand in winter has affected the development work. Especially students, workers, children, the poor, the helpless, and senior citizens who commute in winter are more affected.
The minimum temperature in Jumla is minus 4.7 and the maximum temperature is 13.7 degrees Celsius, according to the Meteorological Field Office Jumla. The locals say that they collect firewood to avoid the cold.
