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Incessant hail and rain destroyed apple blossoms back in May, resulting in a drastic reduction in apple production in the Karnali province this year. Apple prices, as a result, have gone up. Farmers in the area complain about scant production and lost income. Most of the produce from remote areas has to be airlifted to nearby markets, which makes transfer of low volumes unfeasible.

In the Karnali region, most apples are grown in Jumla, which produced 12,000 metric tons last year. But this year, only 5,000 metric tons have been produced. Chief of the Agriculture Development Office, Jumla, Bala Karam Devkota says apple prices have gone up after the decline in production. In Jumla, per/kg prices have been fixed at Rs 160 for A grade, Rs 155 for B grade and Rs 150 for C grade apples. According to Devkota, apple prices may further increase due to declining supply.

Similarly, 1,450 metric tons of apples were produced in Humla last year. This year, this volume has been halved. In Mugu—which yielded 1,500 metric tons of apples last year—production has declined by 70 percent. Chief of the District Agriculture Development Office, Mugu, Panchlal Budha informs that apples will not be exported to other districts this year due to low production. Buddhi Budathoki, assistant technical officer at the same office, adds that only 400 metric tons of apples were produced in Dolpa this year, compared to 3,296 metric tons last year.

Organic apples are produced in hugs quantities in Jumla, Dolpa, Mugu, Kalikot and Humla of Karnali province. But this year, apple production has dropped by about 70 percent. Bala Karam Devkota, chief of the Agriculture Development Office, Jumla, attributes this to the hail and rain in May that destroyed apple blossoms. “This year has been very bad for apple farmers,” says Devkota.

Devkota says commercial farmers have been hit hard. Most farmers in Jumla had only just started growing apples on a commercial scale. Apples produced in Karnali are sold in cities including Surkhet, Nepalgunj, Pokhara and Kathmandu.

The concerned District Agriculture Development Offices have been providing free packaging materials to farmers for apple export. Apples of varieties like Red Delicious, Golden and Chocolate are cultivated in the Karnali region.

Prolonged complete or partial lockdown between April and August have been tough on the Nepali economy. The economy has been open for hardly a month in the past six months. During this time, say industrialists, 70 to 80 percent of economic activities in the country came to a complete halt.

Kishor Pradhan, vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, estimates that unemployment in the country is up by 80 percent and production has declined by as much. “From now, only the places with high number of infections should be under strict lockdown,” Pradhan recommends.

Former Nepal Rastra Bank Executive Director Nara Bahadur Thapa says the country can bear no more losses due to lockdowns and restrictions. “The economy is already in a critical stage,” he says.

Foreign Minister and government spokesperson Pradeep Gyawali has also spoken about the government’s obligation to keep the national economy afloat despite the health crisis.

Many daily wage workers have had to go hungry during the lockdown, says Thapa adding, “The Indian economy is also opening up despite the rapidly rising number of Covid-19 cases. We should do accordingly.” Thapa is optimistic that Covid-19 vaccines will soon be available.

As the economic crisis escalates, the government has decided to open up many areas. Industrialists are confident that economic activities will increase with the resumption of long-distance transport, hotels, restaurants, trekking, and domestic flights. Covid-19 has hit the service sector particularly hard. According to Thapa, only one-fourth of the service sector, which contributes 58 percent to the GDP, were in operation between April and August.

Likewise, agriculture contributes 27 percent to the GDP and, thankfully, the pandemic does not seem to have created many problems in the sector. Thapa is confident that despite the ongoing shortage of fertilizers, the contribution of agriculture to the GDP will not decline this year.

Industrialists are of the view that the national economy won’t regain its previous rhythm unless restrictions on free flow of people and vehicles are completely lifted. In this context, says FNCCI’s Pradhan, it is good to note that economic activities have picked up following the resumption of transport on September 20.

Sometime ago, officials of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) had met President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and petitioned her against imposing another crippling lockdown that could potentially ruin the economy.

The government has also failed on its commitments. According to Pradhan, even though the monetary policy has clear refinancing provisions, banks have started tightening their screws on debt-saddled businesses. “Now there is talk of reducing the previous loan rate to five percent instead of refinancing,” Pradhan says. “It is sad that the government is unable to implement its own monetary policy.”

I’m confused.  I spent months at home when Covid-19 infections were in double figures.  Now it’s reached five figures, and pushing steadily towards six. And now I am told I can go out to shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, get on buses and domestic planes, and even go trekking!

My mind tells me this is far from over. My logic tells me authorities know it’s not over as schools, bars, cinemas, and large gatherings remain off-limits. But the little devil on my shoulder whispers, “Look! Other people are going out of the city and even to [supposedly closed] bars”. I’m pretty good at ignoring that little devil. Unlike the group of 20-somethings celebrating a birthday in a café yesterday. With the “old normal” hugs and kisses. Then heading out the gate sans mask. Unlike those bar owners who, understandably desperate for income, are advertising themselves as open. We know social distancing just isn’t going to happen there either.

So yes, I’m confused. I was told there were two quarantined households with Covid-19 in the small street a friend lives on. Yet children were running up and down the narrow lane. The majority of Nepali friends I have spoken to have a relative who is Covid-19 positive or sick enough to warrant self-isolation. One friend I spoke to on the phone last week wanted to arrange a meeting. Through general chitchat I discovered his whole family had ‘a flu and sore throat’. Nope, sorry, I’m not meeting you for some time to come. How could you even suggest it?

I do believe some people are just unaware: how much real information is given in Nepali about how to protect yourself and family and on recognising the symptoms? And I also believe others are just burying their heads in the sand. I can understand those who are, shockingly, starving and homeless because they are unable to work and have been thrown out of their homes because they cannot pay rent.

Almost justifiably, they are desperate to ignore the heath implications as they clandestinely sell their merger vegetables at the street corner. But I cannot understand those (not starving btw) who do know the facts yet believe it won’t happen to them, or they just don’t care.  They have given in to the little devil on their shoulder.

Then there are those who seem to genuinely believe it’s all a hoax. Yes, those anti-maskers are in Nepal too. Well, I’m sorry, that’s just selfish. Believe what you like but “just in case” it is real, can you wear a frigging mask to save the rest of us? My friend yesterday got it right when he said, “Just because you don’t believe in gravity doesn’t mean you won’t fall when you jump off a building”.

And we are falling. Economically, physically, mentally, the world is falling off that high building. In countries where strict measures are in place, as soon as they—slowly and with a lot of preparedness and thought—opened schools, numbers spiked. That was expected. What was perhaps not was the response of young Europeans (I’m totally discounting America here as it is beyond my comprehension any more) who, feeling frustrated with months of lockdown, are out partying in large numbers.

So perhaps I judge Nepal too harshly if over in Europe governments are having a hard time controlling certain sections of their populations. Despite widespread awareness raising, education, financial support, and strict rules in place. 

I’m paying close attention to the opening of international air travel and the expected arrival of tourists in Nepal. Less than one month out, there is no set protocols in place. The reopening of domestic air travel was delayed a few days because authorities and airlines had not put their protocols in place. After six months of potential planning time! And then there are the Dashain holidays that coincide with the scheduled reopening of international flights. A disaster waiting to happen.

 Now, where is that pile of sand?

As old Covid-19 patients snap up scarce hospital beds, home isolation appears to be an increasingly viable option for the newly-infected.

Danphe Care, a Dillibazaar, Kathmandu-based healthcare management company, will help them do so. Started a month ago by a team doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and dietitians, it has a nine-member executive team, with another 30-35 medical personnel and experts working as advisors. Kabin Maleku, program coordinator at the center, says his team had anticipated the Covid-19 crisis and had been working on offering Covid-19 services for the past few months.

Maleku says around 80 percent of all Covid-19 patients can be treated in home isolation. “Why burden the healthcare system if you can treat yourself at home, right?” he asks. “If normal patients start occupying beds, those with severe symptoms will have to suffer.”

This realization, coupled with multiplying questions over the safety of isolation and quarantine facilities, are making more and more Covid-19 patients to opt for home isolation. For if a patient is admitted to an unmanaged and crowded isolation center, there is also a chance of their contracting other communicable diseases.

Danphe Care offers a 15-day home isolation package at Rs. 200 a day, offering support and care through virtual assistance and phone conversations as part of the package. Guidance on medical and emotional issues through daily symptoms checkups, regular intervention, medicine prescription, referral to the hospital and coordination with ambulance services when necessary, are the salient features of this package.

“We have a holistic approach to Covid care. Not only physical and mental care, we are also working on spiritual well-being of the patients under our watch,” adds Maleku.

“We categorize our patients and include in the package only those whom we can treat and monitor at their own homes,” says Dr Suyash Timalsina, medical coordinator at the center. 

On the first day, center experts conduct orientation as the patients may be ignorant of the disease and get panicky. After that, the team analyses patient health. Following an in-depth assessment, the patient’s condition is outlined. Only then do regular consultations with patients start. The patients are guided to keep themselves as well as their loved ones safe.

“If our monitoring proves inadequate, we seek help from other experts and specialist doctors,” adds Maleku. Offering diet plans, hygiene tips, yoga and meditation tips, and other practical knowledge are also part of the package.

If a patient needs hospitalization, the doctors who had been regularly following them also help them get admitted to a suitable hospital.

So who can use Dafne services? “Covid-19 patients and those who have come in contact with them,” replies Timalsina. Regular, 24/7, monitoring, he says, helps identify even minor changes in symptoms.

Having successfully monitored home isolation of over 70 patients, the center is planning to scale up to be able to treat 1,000 patients at a time. 

If you need home-isolation monitoring services, contact:

Kabin Maleku

Program Cordinator, Danphe Care

9802314742