Bir Hospital: A model hospital

BHRIKUTI RAI

Kathmandu, Nepal

As hospitals go, Nepal's oldest hospital makes the news for all the wrong reasons: corruption, mismanagement and filth. However, Bir Hospital is becoming a model for recycling hospital waste not only for other hospitals in Nepal but around the world

                                        Pic: Bikram Rai

Each year hospitals in Nepal generate more than 365 tons of medical waste with most of it thrown into municipal garbage dumps: syringes, plastic, bandages and even some human body parts.

In the absence of proper storage, disposal facilities and sterilisation instruments like autoclave and incinerators, Bir Hospital was dumping 323 kg of infectious waste into the public garbage system every day. Not surprisingly, waste had become a major source of infection among patients and staff exposed to the polluted environment.

Last year, the Health Care Waste Management Program was launched with Healthcare Foundation-Nepal (HECAF). Today, Bir is quickly becoming a pioneer in the field of hospital waste management as the hospital now segregates waste at the source significantly reducing the toxicity. The waste is then thoroughly disinfected and passed along for recycling and reuse. "We have been following non-incineration techniques to manage medical waste because of the risks associated with burning them," says Mahesh Nakarmi, director of the Health Waste Management Program.

जलविद्युत् कि पर्यटन?

डम्बरकृष्ण श्रेष्ठ

भोटेकोशी, सिन्धुपाल्चोकमा

अँध्यारोमा बस्नुपरेको जलस्रोतको धनी देश नेपालको लागि विद्युत् जति आवश्यक छ, देशको अर्थतन्त्रमा पर्यटन क्षेत्रको संरक्षण र विकास त्यत्तिकै जरुरी। चिलिमे जलविद्युत् कम्पनी र नेपाल विद्युत् प्राधिकरणले रु.१२ अर्ब २८ करोडको लगानीमा सिन्धुपाल्चोकमा १०२ मेगावाट क्षमताको मध्य भोटेकोशी जलविद्युत् आयोजना निर्माण गर्दैछन्। यसबाट र्‍याफ्टिङ र कायकिङका लागि विश्व प्रसिद्ध भोटेकोशीको आकर्षण गुम्ने भएकाले आयोजनालाई ७५ मेगावाटमा सीमित गरी गातीमा प्रस्तावित विद्युत्गृहलाई सखुवामा सारेर नदी संरक्षण गर्नुपर्ने माग पर्यटन व्यवसायीहरूको छ। तर आयोजना निर्माता र राजनीतिक दलहरू अहिलेलाई पर्यटन भन्दा जलविद्युत् महत्वपूर्ण भएकाले हाल डिजाइन गरिएअनुरुप बनाउनुपर्ने अडानमा छन्।

१० मङ्सिरमा मध्य भोटेकोशी जलविद्युत् कम्पनीले सखुवामा आयोजना गरेको अन्तरक्रियामा नेकपा एमालेका पूर्व सांसद् सुभाष कर्माचार्यको भनाइ थियो, “नदी जोगाउने र पर्यटक ल्याउने कुरा आफ्नो ठाउँमा छ, तर सबैभन्दा पहिले हामीलाई उज्यालो चाहिएको छ।” जलविद्युत्लाई प्राथमिकता दिने र पर्यटनलाई पनि सक्दो जोगाउने कुरा गर्दै एनेकपा मा'वादीका सभासद् राजकुमार श्रेष्ठले तर मध्य भोटेकोशीमा स्थानीय बासिन्दाको जीवनस्तर उकास्न र गाउँ विकास गर्न विद्युत् नै महत्वपूर्ण भएको बताए।

कार्यक्रममा आयोजना प्रबन्धक कुलमानसिंह तामाङले सार्वजनिक-निजी साझ्ेदारीमा बन्न लागेको मध्य भोटेकोशीले तल्लो तहका जनताको आयस्तर बढाउने आकर्षण देखाए। आयोजनाले पर्यटनलाई असर पार्ने कुरा उठिरहेका बेला उनले इको हाइड्रो-टुरिजमको अवधारणा अनुसार चीनमा जस्तै हाइड्रोपावर हेर्ने पर्यटक भित्र्याउन सकिने र र्‍याफ्टिङका लागि आयोजना भन्दा दक्षिणको क्षेत्रमा नयाँ संरचना थपिने बताए।

Nepal pipes biogas expertise abroad

Navin Singh KhadkaEnvironment reporter, BBC News, Nepal

Having emerged as one of the pioneers in producing biogas from cow dung, the Himalayan nation of Nepal is now successfully transferring its technical expertise to other countries.

Photo: bbc.co.uk

Several Nepalese experts have been travelling to countries in South East Asia and Africa to introduce the "clean", homegrown technology that helps reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels and saves forests.Biogas from cow dung is mainly used for cooking in rural areas and also for lighting houses.

Renowned for displacing choking smoky ovens with clean cooking stoves, the Nepalese model of biogas has won the prestigious Ashden award.

The Biogas Partnership Project Nepal, a collaboration between the government, donors and non-governmental organisations, has already installed plants for nearly 300,000 households across the country.

The project says it helps reduce 7.4 tonnes of greenhouse gases per household per year and protects 250,000 trees during the same period of time.

And the expertise gained over the years has benefited many communities in different developing and least developed countries including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, among others in Asia and around 10 countries in Africa.

First camera-trap image of Nepal’s Snow Leopard released

Kathmandu, Nepal

The first picture of a snow leopard taken by a camera trap on 24 October 2011 in Khambachen valley of Kangchenjunga was released today by WWF-Nepal. 

Photo: WWF Nepal

Ten camera traps (Moultrie D- 40) were installed in the valleys of Nagphinda, Khambachen, Lohanak and Jimbubari in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in October 2011 under a pioneering initiative to monitor snow leopards in Nepal’s Himalayas. The monitoring is being led by local communities through the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council and the Snow Leopard Conservation Committee-Ghunsa. It is expected that the camera traps will guide the estimation of snow leopard populations in the future. 

NEA MD out of touch‚ rumours rife he's quit

Ramesh Prasad Bhusal 

Kathmandu, Nepal

Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority Dipendra Nath Sharma has gone incommunicado , giving rise to speculations that he has resigned following intense pressure from NEA trade unions over 'various issues'. 

If the rumours doing rounds about Sharma's resignation are true, it will not only reflect the state of the state-owned power utility but also will prove his appointment was much ado about nothing, for Sharma is the first MD in the history of NEA who was selected through open competition, in a move what then energy minister Gokarna Bista had termed 'an effort to revamp' the organisation.

It is said that Sharma left his office yesterday, saying 'I won't return again'. A source at the Ministry of Energy said Sharma has already tendered his resignation to Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel. But Paudel said he was on leave. "He has submitted a leave application but has not specified till when," he said.