Rajbiraj, July 7

Patients have been compelled to receive treatment on the floor due to lack of beds in Gajendra Narayan Singh Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital, in Rajbiraj, Saptari.

Sources at the hospital said health workers have been treating patients on the floor after the number of patients increased with the outbreak of seasonal diseases.

Emergency ward In-charge Ram Kumar Diyali said new patients had to be admitted before the old patients were discharged. “All the beds in the emergency wards are full and are forced to treat patients on the floor,” he informed. Diyali said that 20 beds out of 24 were in use while four others were dysfunctional.

Assistant Health Worker Jaya Krishna Gurmaita said that more than 200 patients visit the health facility for treatment on a daily basis. “Of them, more than 50 suffer from viral fever while the others are victims of seasonal diseases,” he added. Gurmaita said snake-bite, diarrhoea, fever and common cold are the problems patients visiting the health facility have.

The relatives of patients showed dissatisfaction. A relative of Dev Ram Yadav, a patient, said it was not good practice to treat patients on the floor, besides mosquitos posed additional health threat to patients.

Similarly, Hari Prasad Das said that patients were suffering much as the doctors did not come on time.

“We are compelled to take the patients to Dharan and Biratnagar due to lack reliable treatment in the hospital,” said Dev Lal Thakur of Boriya. It is said only four doctors out of 22 are providing service at the hospital.