The Nepali government is all set to conduct an operation to check the spread of avian flu in the country, a government official said.

Director general at Department of Health Services Mahendra Bahadur Bista told Friday's The Himalayan Times daily that the government has done everything in its capacity to launch the program.

"Once the World Bank (WB) gives a green signal, we will begin the comprehensive program to check avian flu in the country," Bista was quoted by the leading English daily as saying.

A World Bank team is scheduled to visit Nepal in a week's time to assess the comprehensive program. The country has designed to check avian flu here, according to Bista. The WB is the main donor for the program.

A cabinet meeting on March 12 had endorsed the National Avian Influenza and Influenza Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan.

A fund of 15.1 million U.S. dollars has been earmarked for three years beginning in 2006 for the purpose.

Bista said that all the line ministries are working together to strengthen national and international coordination to check the transmission of the deadly disease.

The Ministry of Agriculture and co-operatives, the Department of Livestock Services and the Ministry of Health and Population are involved in the program, he said.

The major objective of the plan is to prevent the disease from entering Nepal, develop a surveillance system of migratory bird, find out the risk difference between human beings and animals, capacity building and strengthening of the health care delivery system, among others.

Altogether 132 cases of confirmed human cases of avian influenza (H5N1) have been reported of which 68 deaths have occurred from Dec. 26, 2003, till Nov. 25, 2005, in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and China, the World Health Organization has said.

Source: Xinhua