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Ubhauli, the most important festival of the Kirant community, is being marked with joy and fervor on Friday. This festival is mostly celebrated in the districts of Koshi Province and Kathmandu in the country. The Ubhauli festival is celebrated every year on the full moon day of the month of Baisakh in the Lunar calendar. During the festival, the Kiranti folks gather together to celebrate the festival in an organized manner and exchange good wishes. According to the religious book Mundhum of the Kirants, time is divided into two parts, Udhauli and Ubhauli. The Kirant community believe that these two periods are divided on the basis of farming. Ubhauli is a festival celebrated to mark the beginning of farming.  

The Constitution of Nepal 2015 has regarded the right to health as one of the fundamental rights of the Nepalis. Article 35 (1) of the constitution states that every citizen shall have the “right to free basic health services from the State, and no one shall be deprived of emergency health services”, Article 35 (3) stipulates every citizen’s equal access to health services whereas Article 35 (4) envisions access to clean drinking water and sanitation. These great legal provisions notwithstanding, the right to health remains on paper for most of the Nepalis. This daily has published a series of investigative reports detailing a sorry state of affairs at government hospitals. Whether it’s Civil Service Hospital, Bir Hospital or Maternity Hospital, all have been suffering from serious illnesses like the lack of human resources, cleanliness and other occupational safety and health measures, equipment, budget and infrastructure, to name a few. Despite such a state of affairs, these facilities are bursting at their seams, with service-seekers waiting in serpentine queues daily for treatment, not to mention thousands of others, who wait for months on end for surgeries. Apparently, these public health facilities, which form the backbone of a public health delivery system, pose a serious threat to public health, especially in the times of a pandemic. Who is mainly to blame for the ills plaguing the public health delivery system? Governments in deep slumber, over a prolonged period of time. Governments that come and go in this instability-plagued country in quick succession have no time and energy to treat these diseases. Why would they pull up their sleeves and dirty their hands anyway? After all, whenever the ruling elites or their kith and kin fall ill, they can avail themselves of medical treatment abroad, with the state always ready to foot their medical bill. Over the years, a number of VIPs and VVIPs have availed themselves of services available at state-of-the-art medical facilities abroad, while lakhs of commoners continue to wait for their turn at ill-managed health facilities, bearing with the pungent smell and other associated difficulties. Sadly, a large number of people cannot even make it to these medical facilities as people begging on our streets for medical treatment of their own or their near and dear ones show. The onus is on the government to take urgent measures to fix our health system and work toward health and well-being, not only of VVIPs and VIPs but also of the commoners.

Nepal reported 43 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 301 swab samples were tested in the last 24 hours, of which 43 tested positive. The Ministry said that 50 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 202 active cases in the country.  

Newly appointed ministers took oath of office and secrecy on Thursday. President Ram Chandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers amidst a program organized in Sheetal Niwas this afternoon. Dhan Raj Gurung was appointed as the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Mohan Bahadur Basnet as Minister for Health and Population and Dig Bahadur Limbu as Minister for Youth and Sports. President Paudel appointed the trio as ministers on the recommendation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. All the three newly appointed ministers are the lawmakers elected from the Nepali Congress.  

Gandaki Province Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey secured a vote of confidence in the Province Assembly on Thursday. He received 35 votes while 22 voted against him. The UML lawmakers cast their votes against Pandey. Two lawmakers of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party remained neutral. Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Pandey was appointed as the chief minister on April 27. Earlier, the then chief minister CPN-UML Parliamentary Party leader Khagraj Adhikari failed to secure a vote of confidence on April 22.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli held a meeting on Thursday. During the meeting took place at the Singha Durbar-based Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the two discussed contemporary political issues. Talking briefly with journalists after the meeting, the Prime Minister said that the meeting dwelt on contemporary political issues, government’s upcoming policies and programs and the budget. Similarly, Oli said that those involved in the fake Bhutanese refugees’ case should be brought under the purview of law. Earlier on Wednesday, an arrest warrant was issued against former Energy Minister and CPN-UML Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi for his alleged involvement in the case.  

A tremor was felt at Bajura today. According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center, the quake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale with its epicenter of Bichhiya was recorded at 1:17 pm today. Prior to this, the district in the Sudurpaschim Province recorded three tremors with the epicenter at Dahakot on April 28.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 12.73 points to close at 1, 869.73 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 2.07 points to close at 357. 91 points. A total of 2,533,714-unit shares of 276 companies were traded for Rs 732 billion. Meanwhile, NIBL Growth Fund was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 9. 86 percent. Likewise, NMB Debenture was the top loser as its price fell by 5.85 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 72 trillion.