Hereditary diseases are a major headache in Nepal thanks to govt apathy

Kameshwar Mandal of Janakpur took his five-year-old son to a hospital in India in the 1990s. There, he was diagnosed with thalassemia, a rare hereditary disease. At that time, even the doctors of Nepal did not have any idea about this disease. Mandal shares, “From a doctor in India, we learned the treatment for this disease also involves blood transfusion twice a month besides medicine.”

Even though hundreds of citizens like Mandal and his son are suffering like this, the government seems indifferent about this disease and the condition of its patients. Doctors say in the long run, the government’s lack of interest in hereditary diseases, which are becoming a major headache for the public health sector, will have a huge social, economic and psychological impact.