Kathmandu, July 26 (Inditop.com) A 65-year-old man died drenched in his own urine and stool in western Nepal after he was infected by the raging diarrhoea epidemic in his district but did not get any medical aid because he was also suffering from leprosy.
Jnani Prasad Upadhyay died Saturday in Dime village in remote Jajarkot district where over 150 people have died in an outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera.
Though he had contracted the water-borne disease six days ago, he did not get any medical help as his family did not want to touch him for fear of being infected with leprosy.
Upadhyay was diagnosed with leprosy five years ago, which led to his family forcing him to leave the house and live on his own.
His wife having died and his two sons being disabled, there was no one to come to his rescue.
Though there was a health post in the neighbourhood, his neighbours refused to carry him there.
Villagers said Upadhay’s two married daughters, daughters-in-law and grandchildren also did not go to his help for fear of contracting leprosy.
Nepal remains one of the four countries in the world after Congo, Mozambique and Brazil where leprosy has still not been eradicated.
Though the incidence has come down from four people in every 10,000 to almost half of that, the districts in Nepal’s Terai plains, adjoining India, still remain the worst affected by leprosy.
rounak