KATHMANDU, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Medicines are in short supply when people in a south Nepal district afflicted with kala-azar are languishing without treatment, local newspaper The Himalayan Times reported Sunday.

    Trichandra Hospital in Malangawa, the headquarters of Sarlahi district, some 100 km south of Nepali capital Kathmandu, requisitioned medicines from the communicable diseases section of its head office in Kathmandu, but the stock sent was inadequate.

    Senior health worker at the hospital Lata Shrestha said 500 vials were demanded, but only 100 vials came on Saturday morning. Shrestha added that these would not be enough for even the 17 chronic kala-azar patients who were being treated at the hospital. All 17 patients were sent home as the hospital ran out of medicines.

    Most of the kala-azar patients are from a community called Taiwan Basti and their economic condition is very bad.

    Secretary of the community forest users' federation Uttam KumarMainali said most of the afflicted persons in Taiwan Basti have been selling off their cattle and other livestock to collect money for treatment.

    Mainali added that his organization was collecting funds to provide for those who could not afford treatment.

    Local health post staffer Ramsewak Roy said lack of awareness among Taiwan Basti residents and unhygienic conditions created by them were responsible for the kala-azar outbreak.

    Roy said the government had built toilets for these people, but they preferred to keep pigs, goats and chickens in these and use the backyard of their houses for lavatory purposes.

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO) website, kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, is characterized by high fever, substantial weight loss, swelling of the spleen and liver, and anemia. If left untreated, the disease can have a fatality rate as high as 100 percent within two years.