Nepal

Kathmandu, June 22

Bir Hospital shut down its CT scan service yesterday after radiation was found leaking from its highly shielded room.

The hospital has closed its services upon the recommendation of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology as a monitoring team from NAST found higher level of radiation in areas around the CT scan room. It has suggested that the hospital adopt protection measures against radiation leakage. The hospital had fixed a new CT scan machine six months ago.

Immediate exposure to high level of radiation will harm blood and skin cells. Effect of radiation on gonads, one of the reproductive organs in a male or female can lead to birth defects in babies, said Dan Bahadur Karki, president of Nepal Radiologist Association.

Skin burns can occur when exposed to higher level of radiation. A long term exposure to radiation could result in cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The early symptoms of sickness from radiation are nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Radiation leakages can occur in hospitals due to defects in X-ray machines or when proper shielding of the X-ray room is not maintained. To prevent radiation leakage lead shielding is necessary, said Buddha R Shah, a senior scientist at Physical Science Laboratory, Faculty of Science, NAST.

The hospital is unsure of resuming the services any time soon as it lacks enough budget for repair and maintenance of the CT scan room. &It costs around 20-25 lakh to maintain the room. We don&t have enough budget. It takes two to three months for any maintenance work at the hospital incurring a cost of above Rs five lakh as the hospital administration has to go through a tender process,& said Kedar Century, director at the hospital.

We are looking for alternatives and are considering moving the machine to a room that has an old CT scan machine. If this is done, the CT scan service can be resumed after a week, according to Century.

At least 70 patients benefit from CT scan service at the hospital on a daily basis. A CT scan service costs around 2,500 to 4,500 depending on the type of scan.

The monitoring team on June 17 had concluded that the level of radiation was ten times higher than the background level. It was found to be 2.12 microsievert per hour on the console room — main room of the CT scan, which contains a computer display and a keyboard that control the scanner. The monitoring was done on the window lead glass of the CT scan room.

It had also detected 1.02 microsievert per hour of radiation in the room — one metre away from the window lead glass. The team had also recorded high level of radiation at the entrance lead door and in the waiting room. &Protection is required whenever the leaked radiation is ten times higher than the background level. The body concerned should increase the thickness of lead. They should properly shield the door,& said Shah.

The team had monitored the area upon the request of the hospital after a leakage was suspected.

According to Safety Standards Occupational Radiation Protection, the safety guide of International Atomic Energy Agency, for occupational exposure of workers over the age of 18 years, radiation dose limit is 20 millisieverts per year for over five consecutive years (100 mSv in 5 years) and 50 mSv in any single year.

&For the public, the minimum permissible level of radiation absorption is 1 millisievert per year,& said Karki.

Radiation is measured using the unit sievert, which quantifies the amount of radiation absorbed by human tissues. One sievert is equivalent to 1,000 millisieverts (mSv) and one millisievert is equivalent to 1,000 microsieverts.

&Lead glasses are necessary to seal the passage of radiation.

The lead door of a CT scan room should always be closed,& said Karki. There is no proper monitoring mechanism for the leakage of radiation at hospitals.

Hospitals have been approaching NAST to monitor radiation level at their own. To track leakages in a CT scan room, NAST has been providing thermoluminescent dosimeter — a tool used for assessment by ionising radiation.

&If there is a higher reading in the tool then we try to find out the causes of increased radiation level. It helps to monitor the leakage from CT scan and X-ray machines, explained Shah.

The government should make it mandatory for hospitals to monitor such leakage on a regular basis, said Karki.

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Kathmandu, June 21

Municipal Assembly of Kathmandu Metropolitan City today passed its policies and programmes for fiscal 2019-20, presented by Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya.

Kathmandu metropolis stated that the annual policies and programmes had adapted the government vision of ‘Prosperous Nepal: Happy Nepalis& and has accorded high priority to the interests and needs of Kathmanduites with special focus on economically, socially and culturally backward groups.

According to the document, the metropolis will follow the principles of transparency, financial discipline and social justice while carrying out development activities.

&Corruption-free rule of law will be guaranteed as good governance is the foundation stone of democracy. The policy of encouraging local know-how, skills and capacity will be adopted to raise the living standard of locals,& it reads.

The policies and programmes also stated that activities of Kathmandu Metropolitan City will be guided by the policy of conservation and promotion of cultural, historical and religious heritages. &Special attention will be paid to environment protection, climate change and resilience, while formulating and implementing physical and social development plans,& it stated.

KMC also announced that the role of Urban Planning Commission will be made effective for research, analysis, monitoring, supervision and evaluation of local development plans and projects to ensure that the annual policies and programmes are implemented.

The document has emphasised on creation of ‘a city with prosperous, balanced and sustainable development& by exercising the powers conferred by the Local Government Operation Act-2017.

KMC said Balaju Baisdhara Park would be upgraded into a cultural and religious park. Construction of central building of KMC, vertical smart parking building, tourism trail and Buddha Park in Koteshwor have been included as key development projects for the fiscal 2019-20.

The policies and programmes of the metropolis include five headings, 26 subheadings and 138 points.

According to KMC, the Municipal Assembly had endorsed the policies and programmes incorporating suggestions of its members.

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KATHMANDU: After it came to light that Tikapur-carnage convict, Member of Parliament (MP) Resham Chaudhary, was chained to a hospital bed while receiving treatment, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli showed concern and directed that the chain be immediately removed.

Chaudhary, who has been receiving treatment at Bir Hospital, was chained to the hospital bed for &security reasons&. Prime Minister Oli, after coming to know of this, called Chief Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi instructing him to get the chain removed and to take action against those involved in the act, stated Prime Ministerpress coordinator Chetan Adhikari.

It has been learnt that PM Oli became aware of the situation when Chaudharyphoto in such circumstance became public.

Chaudhary, who is imprisoned in Dillibazaar prison for his involvement in the Tikapur incident, has been receiving treatment in Bir Hospital since Wednesday.

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Kathmandu, June 21

Conflict Victims& Common Platform today wrote a letter to Om Prakash Mishra, who leads the committee to nominate office bearers of Truth and Reconciliation Committee and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, to ensure that professional office bearers are nominated for the two transitional justice mechanisms.

CVCP stated that it would not accept appointment of the office bearers if TRC Act was not amended as per the decision of the Supreme Court. In one of the verdicts, the SC said there could be no amnesty in serious human rights violations.

CVCP added that the two transitional justice mechanisms had remained ineffective due to the governmentfailure to amend the TRC Act as per the spirit of the Supreme Court verdict. It stated that the governmentattempt to send party loyalists to the two transitional justice mechanisms was another reason why the TRC and CIEDP had failed to deliver justice.

A rumour has been doing the rounds that the nomination committee was preparing to appoint party loyalists in the two transitional bodies. If that happens then the two bodies will again fail to provide justice to victims, stated CVCP.

CVCP urged political parties and the government to take further action on transitional justice issue only with the consent of all stakeholders, including conflict victims. It urged the nomination committee to appoint office bearers of the two transitional bodies from among professional experts who can perform their duties without being influenced or coerced by anybody. It also urged the government to withdraw its judicial review petition filed in the Supreme Court so that it could immediately initiate the process of amending the TRC Act.

CVCP has also sent carbon copies of its letters to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Co-chair of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

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