Disease outbreak looms high in Nepal: Indian doctors

The risk of serious diseases including diarrhoea and skin allergies are looming high in earthquake-battered Nepal due to the countless animal corpses lying out in the open, Indian doctors -- part of the rescue operation -- said on Tuesday.

They said that lack of proper food, unhygienic surroundings and the lack of specialised doctors to treat the patients have accelerated the problems.

"The number of patients with skin diseases and allergies are increasing very fast. If the debris remains uncleared for some more days, and human and animal bodies remain below it then it is definitely going to affect the health of people," AIIMS spokesperson Amit Gupta told IANS.

He also said that five separate teams comprising dermatologists will be dispatched from Delhi-based government hospitals including All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Gupta said that till now the medical teams sent to Nepal were only made up of general physicians and orthopaedics.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) in association with AIIMS had sent 10 teams of doctors immediately after the earthquake hit the Himalayan nation on April 25.

IMA will also be dispatching a team of psychiatrists and psychologists to give counselling to victims suffering from mental trauma.

Gupta, who had participated in the rescue operations for the 2014 Kashmir floods and 2013 Uttarakhand floods, said: "Due to lack of proper transportation, several people in the base camps, where medical teams were not able to reach, were reported to be suffering from several health complications."

Pradeep Bhardwaj, CEO of Six Sigma health care, a Delhi-based private hospital, which has dispatched three teams of specialised doctors said: "We reached today (Tuesday). The only thing we have witnessed since the morning is that rescue is not enough, they need sincere medical attention."

"We are here for another three more days. We will work in coordination with the other medical teams and Nepal civil administration to disseminate the medical aid to the needy," Bhardwaj told IANS.