Sindhulimadi, August 28

The number of seasonal patients has been increasing in District Hospital, Sindhuli, since the past ten days.

Earlier, as many as 30 to 40 patients visited the hospital for treatment on a day-to-day basis. According to the district hospital, after monsoon began, around 300 patients have started frequenting the health facility everyday mounting pressure on the staffers at the hospital.

Medical Superintendent Dr Sumitra Gautam said most patients visiting the hospital were below two years of age. “The number of patients increased suddenly after the weather changed,” she added. Dr Gautam informed that patients suffering from common cold, cough and diarrhoea, among other seasonal diseases, had come to the hospital.

Health workers said the number of beds in the hospital were not adequate to accommodate all the patients. “At other times, fifty beds in the hospital were more than enough,” said Dr Gautam. She added that the hospital could not treat patients properly due to lack of beds in the monsoon. “We send patients back to their homes although they need doctors’ attention due to this very reason,” she added.

The doctors in the hospital said they had been treating patients by assigning one bed to two patients. The hospital administration said every year with the advent of monsoon, patients flooded the facility and faced problems due to insufficient physical infrastructure.