People's Representative to be Social Physician: Chairman Timilsina

Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina has said that the social representative is the people's representative who has information on all issues of the village. Speaking at an interaction held in Surkhet today on 'Risk Communication and Community Participation for Vaccination Against Covid-19', he said that it was the responsibility of the people's representatives to detect the disease in the society.

Chairman Timilsina said that the people's representatives are always among the people of their area and they are aware of various social problems. He said that the people have to rely on the people's representatives for the solution of social problems even if they get expert services from health professionals. "People's representatives have a lot of responsibility. In fact, people's representatives should treat all kinds of diseases in the society," he said. That was not the case. " He suggested that the federal government should launch a special campaign in Karnali and Madhesh states to vaccinate against COVID-19.

Chairman Timilsina said that the people's representatives at all levels should once again return to their respective villages and create an environment for vaccination. He mentioned that the people's representatives from the National Assembly members to the ward members need to compete with each other to spread public awareness.

 Karnali Chief Minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi said that the people's representative was the person whom the people trusted the most. He clarified that due to the geographical remoteness of Karnali, mountainous climate and technical problems in reporting, the exact number of people vaccinated against corona has not been ascertained yet. Chief Minister Shahi informed that 52 percent of the total population of the state has taken first dose, 48 percent second dose and 50 thousand 93 people have applied booster dose.

Speaker of the Karnali Provincial Assembly Raj Bahadur Shahi expressed the view that the fight against the Corona epidemic was a lesson, courage and inspiration for every citizen. He said that the epidemic prevention has become effective when the people's representatives and the health sector go hand in hand.

The interaction was organized by the Ministry of Health and Population with the technical assistance of the World Health Organization (WHO). Ministry spokesperson Mishra asked what role the state assembly members could play in the response plan against Corona. He said that the program was organized with the objective of exchanging past experiences.

During the interaction, experts were presented at technical sessions on the role of parliamentarians in obtaining coverage against COVID-19, risk communication and community participation mechanisms in Nepal, science behind public health standards, and government vaccination strategy.