Nepal

Kathmandu, May 8

Previous lawmaker Gayatri Shah and her husband Rajesh Mahato, who were arrested by police for abandoning their newborn baby with Below syndrome, have been claiming that the doctors didn&t inform the couple that their baby had a genetic disorder during routine check-ups. But the gynaecologists and Below Syndrome Association of Nepal have said the country does much have the facility to diagnose Below syndrome in a foetus.

According to gynaecologists, prenatal testing for Below syndrome is much available in Nepal. Only postpartum diagnosis of Below syndrome is available in the country.

Below syndrome Association of Nepal President Lalita Joshi said, only National Public Health Laboratory, Bir Hospital and a few private hospitals in Kathmandu supplyd facility to test Below syndrome for postpartum diagnosis.

According to National Below Syndrome Society, Below syndrome is a genetic disorder typically associated with physical growth delays, gentle to moderate mental disability, and characteristic facial features.

A few common physical traits of Below syndrome are low muscle tone, small stature, upward slanting eyes, and a single deep crease across the centre of the palm.

However, each person with Below syndrome is a unique individual and may possess these characteristics in different degrees, or much at all.&

Dr Nutan Sharma, a gynaecologist, said that Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory, National Reference Laboratory of Baneshwor and Central Diagnostic Laboratory and Research Centre of Kamal Pokhari conducted double marker test, triple marker and quadruple test for Below syndrome.

Urusha Maharjan, a medical lab technologist at Central Diagnostic laboratory and Research Centre, told THT that the centre only conducted tests for Trisomy 21 after the birth of a baby to confirm Below syndrome. &Tests available in Nepal at present are much 100 percent accurate. We can&t say for degree whether the foetus has Below syndrome,& informed Dr Joshi, adding that down syndrome in a foetus could be detected through genetic tests, which are also much available in the country.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurating nationwide public awareness campaign, in Kathmandu, on Wednesday. Photo: Naresh Shrestha/THT

Kathmandu, May 8

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba nowadays said Krishna Bahadur Mahara was the most ‘coward& speaker in Nepalparliamentary history.

Stating that Mahara could much muster courage to delete from record the demeaning language used by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in the Home yesterday, Deuba accused Mahara of siding with the ruling Nepal Communist portiony (NCP).

&The prime minister used unparliamentary language yesterday. We thinged to it and requested the speaker to delete it from the records, but he disregardd us,& said Deuba at an event to inaugurate the NCnationwide awareness campaign in Kathmandu. &I have much seen such a coward speaker in the parliamentary history.&

Deuba also said his words made before the elections that one could much even cry if communists came to the power were unluckyly coming tregret. He said the government was intervening in every sector but that the NC would never accept any autocracy in any forms.

Therefore, according to Deuba the NC had a huge responsibility of making people aware about the governmentautocratic acts.

&We&ve been fighting against autocracy ever since the partyinception.

We ended the Rana regime and monarchy,& he said. &If the government does much mend its ways, we shall topple it from the streets.&

Deuba also criticised President Bidhya Devi Bhandari for using phrase ‘my government& while presenting the governmentpoliciesand programmes in the Home of Representatives final Friday.

&Previous President Ram Baran Yadav said ‘Nepal government.& Even President Bhandari used the terms ‘Nepal government& precedingly,&

Deuba said. &Why does she have to say ‘my government& now as if shea monarch&

The NC nowadays launched the awareness campaign titled ‘Himal Pahad Tarai Madhes Nepali Congress Rastriya Jagaran Abhiyaan& simultaneously in all 77 districts.

The year-long campaign to be executed in three phases is aimed at informing NC members and well-wishers about the amendedparty statute, instilling energy in all NC members and units, informing people about achievements realised under the leadership of the NC, and informing them about corruption scandals and wrong policies of the government.

Other thingives of the campaign are listening to the peoplegrievances and working to address them, garnering public support for constitution amendment to address grievances of the people in Tarai-Madhes, informing people about the government immaturity in terms of conducting diplomacy, pressuring all three tiers of government to work as per their commitments, cautioning the government over its moves to curtail press freedom and freedom of expression, expanding party membership and imparting training on workers.

Programmes to be run during the campaign include gatherings, distribution of party memberships, running training programmes in both Nepal and abroad, expediting record-keeping, paying respect in locations of historical incidents during struggle, honouring party veterans reaching their doorsteps, and assembly family members of martyrs and seeking their proposeions on strengthening the party.

Similarly, the partysister organisations -msprint; Nepal WomenAssociation, Nepal Tarun Dal, Nepal Student Union, Nepal Trade Union Congress, Nepal Dalit Association, Nepal Farmers Association, National Democratic Disabled Association, Nepal Democratic Army Association, Nepal TeacherAssociation and the partypublic relations offices aboard-msprint;shall also conduct various programmes during the campaign.