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Dr Shivaji Poudel has been appointed as the Executive Director of the Bharatpur-based BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital.

A recommendation subcommittee formed by the hospital board of directors has recommended Dr Poudel along with Dr Krishna Sagar Sharma and Dr Pradeep Neupane for the post on Sunday evening.

The hospital board of directors unanimously decided to pick Dr Poudel as the Executive Director today, informed member of board of directors, Dr Anil Bikram Karki.

The hospital board had formed a three-member recommendation committee comprising Dr Madan Upadhyay, Dr Pradeep Gyawali and Dr Dinesh Biswokarma.

Dr Upadhyay is a representative from the Ministry of Health and Population while Dr Gyawali is the member-secretary of National Health Research Council and Dr Biswokarma is a member of the board of directors of the hospital.

Newly-appointed Executive Director Dr Poudel is the radiation oncologist of the cancer hospital. He is also the vice-chairperson of the Nepal Medical Council.

The position of executive director has remained vacant at the hospital after the tenure of Executive Director Dr Dej Kumar Gautam expired.  

The Helambu Rural Municipality has requested assistance from the provincial government after the floods in Melamchi river caused more damage.

Informing about the damage caused by the floods and landslides, Rural Municipality Chair Nima Galzen Sherpa requested the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning under the Bagmati Pradesh government for assistance.

Chair Sherpa expressed his displeasure that Melamchi Municipality, Helambu, Panchpokhari Thangpal Rural Municipality and others which are at high risk of disaster, have not been provided funds immediately.

Meanwhile, Minister for Health and Population Mohan Bahadur Basnet inspected the flood-hit areas of Sindhupalchok including Helambu and Melamchi on Saturday.

Minister Basnet is an elected Member of Parliament from Constituency 2 of Sindhupalchok.

On the occasion, Minister Basnet directed the district administration office and concerned agencies to conduct immediate relief programs in the flood-affected areas.

Minister Basnet said that Bagmati Province MP Krishna Kumar Tamang, Nepali Congress Sindhupalchok District Secretary Rameshraj Bhandari, Melamchi Deputy Mayor Ramsharan Giri and other leaders have also been deployed for the relief and rescue of the residents of the flood-affected areas.

In its attempt to effectively conduct the Bagmati river conservation campaign, the Nepal Association of Rafting Agencies (NARA) is going to organize 'River Festival and Maha Jal Yatra' on Saturday.  

Nepal River Conservation Organization and Friends Club are also joining hands to convene the event.

Vice Chairman of NARA Shishir Khanal said that the event is scheduled to be held to highlight, conserve and promote the Bagmati river civilization and promote rafting and water tourism in the Kathmandu Valley.

Khanal said that the event will begin at 7 am on Saturday from Bagmati bridge at Kupandole in Lalitpur and rafting will be held from 15 boats.

Campaigners have been conducting various programs to preserve the Bagmati river, which carries a social and religious history in the Kathmandu Valley.

Vehicular movement along the Melamchi-Helambu road section in Sindhupalchowk has been obstructed due to the flood triggered by incessant rainfall in Melamchi river.

The flood in Melamchi river has blocked road section.

Efforts of Helambu Rural Municipality to clear the obstruction could not yield result due to continuous rainfall.

Local resident Shyam Chalise said that the flood has blocked the road at Simkhet in Melamchi as well.

The municipality has said that the workers are facing hardships to resume the road after the continuous rain.

Likewise, the flood has washed away the toilets of Saraswoti Secondary School at Helambu-4 and the classrooms are at high risk of flooding, Apsari Lamichhane, Vice-Chairperson of Helambu Rural Municipality said.

Currently, the school is working to shift the academic materials and furniture.

According to Lamichhane, the school and Galthyum bazaar are also at risk of flooding.

The existing position of the monsoon trough has shifted towards the north than its average position.

As a result, Nepal, along with central Madhya Pradesh and adjoining areas in India, is currently experiencing the effects of a low-pressure system, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division.

The Division said that the weather is generally cloudy throughout the country. Light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning is likely to occur at some places of Sudurpashchim Province and hilly regions of the rest of the country and at a few places in the rest of the country. Likewise heavy rain with thunder and lightning has been predicted at one or two places of the Sudurpashchim.

Similarly, tonight there will be generally to mostly cloudy throughout the country. Light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning has been forecast at some places of Koshi, Madesh, Bagmati , Gandaki  and Lumbini .

The same atmospheric condition has been predicted at a few places in the rest of the provinces. There are chances of heavy rain with thunder and lightning at one or two places of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini, according to meteorologist Sanjib Adhikari.

The Division has urged one and all to remain alert to potential consequences from heavy rains with lightning expected in certain parts of the country in the next 24 hours.  

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is going to use the organic insecticide 'Bio Larvicide' to destroy mosquito larva to control dengue in the metropolitan city.

Mayor Balen Shah said that Bio Larvicide is going to be used for the first time in Nepal to destroy the mosquito larva. Shah said the insecticide is organic and it does not harm any other creatures except mosquitoes and their larva.

Taking to a social networking site, he said, "Bio Larvicide is organic. It does not harm any other creatures except mosquitoes and their larva. It is not a pesticide. The insecticide should be sprayed on top of the water.  It produces poison in the abdomen of larva and destroys the digestive process, thereby killing the larva. Larva and pupa of all types of mosquitoes spreading dengue, filariasis, and malaria will be destroyed from it."

An arrangement of counseling regarding dengue has been made from free hotline telephone 1180 round the clock, free ambulance service has been made by contacting at 102 if dengue patient needs to visit hospital and distribution of necessary medicines required for dengue treatment including paracetamol and jeevan jal (oral rehydration salt) at health centers, Mayor Shah added.

Kamala Murmu (30), a resident of Arjundhara Municipality-6, has been held hostage by an unknown gang in Iraq, her mother has said while making an appeal for her rescue.

Her mother Lakhi Murmu says that three years ago Kamala was 'sold' in Iraq by a human trafficker on the pretext of taking her to Oman for foreign employment. Initially, there was no contact with her for six months but since then we talk to each other through voice messages from time to time and my daughter is saying that she has been taken hostage, says Lakhi.

Kamala's eight-year-old daughter is with her grandmother Lakhi. After her husband based in Gujarat, India abandoned her, Kamala was forced to go abroad for a livelihood, claims Lakhi.

The family claims that Govinda Kattel of Itahari and Madan Kharel of Birtamod-1 took Kamala to Iraq on the pretext of a good job in Oman.

Lakhi said that Kamala has been expressing fear that the gang will kill her if she is not rescued. She was not allowed to eat well, forced to sleep on the cold floor and subjected to hard labor.

It has been a long time since the victim's family informed the local police office, ward office, municipality and rescue organizations such as Maiti Nepal about the incident. The family complains that even those agencies are not interested in the rescue.

Kopila Basnet, president of Samunnat Nepal, said that the victim's mother, Lakhi, contacted her after there was no initiative from anywhere to rescue Kamala. Basnet, who is also a lawyer, said, "Kamala Murmu has been taken hostage in a foreign country. I request the government and administration to make an effort to rescue her quickly."

Most of the deaths in Nepal (71 percent) are caused by non-communicable diseases, according to a study.

The risk of non-communicable diseases is increasing day by day, pointed out researchers, who conducted the study, at a PEN-Plus program organized here in Damak, Jhapa, by a government hospital to reduce and manage risks of non-communicable diseases.

The Kathmandu Institute of Child Health (KIOCH) coordinated the program. On the occasion, the KIOCH Chair Prof Dr Bhagawan Koirala presented data of deaths from non-communicable disease putting the number of deaths at 71 percent. Infectious disease has gone unchecked posing a greater risk to the country’s health sector, he said.

When the PEN-Plus program runs effectively, the mortality rate from non-communicable disease could be significantly dropped in the next five to 10 years, he said.

“Providing treatment after early diagnosis of diseases can help prevent early death. Health insurance for the poor, and availability of early treatment and medicines can also help,” he said.

On the occasion, Rector of the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Prof Dr Sanjeev Sharma, shared that untimely death of the people could be prevented if PEN-Plus program is effectively implemented. 

He expressed commitment to make necessary arrangements for the health examination and treatment of the patients referred from Damak. 

Similarly, Chief of PEN-Plus program under the Department of Health Services, Phanindra Prasad Baral, mentioned that the program has been launched as a pilot program in Damak and Bardiya and it would be expanded to other places.

Deputy-Mayor of Damak municipality, Regina Bhattarai, urged neighboring local-levels to take benefit as the PEN-Plus program has been launched at Damak hospital.