Kathmandu, January 5

Bir Hospital is set to launch the service of testing diffusion capacity of the lungs of carbon monoxide. It will be Nepal’s first-ever government hospital to provide the service for treatment of patients with respiratory diseases.

DLCO measures the ability of lungs to transfer gas from inhaled air to red blood cells in pulmonary capillaries.

“The trial is going on in the hospital. However, the service will be started within this week. The test is one of the most advanced modes of medical investigation on patients with

respiratory diseases,” said Dr Ashesh Dhungana, chest unit head at Bir Hospital.

Besides, the hospital is also equipped with new bronchoscopy and endobronchial ultrasound and thoracoscopy machines. The machines have been set up at the hospital.

Earlier, patients had to go to India for endobronchial ultrasound test which cost more than Rs 50,000. This service will be available at the hospital for not more than Rs 15,000. “Patients will be benefited with the services available in their home country,” added Dr Dhungana.

Endobronchial ultrasound is a relatively new procedure used in diagnosis of lung cancer, lung infections and other diseases that cause enlarged lymph nodes or masses in the chest.

In thoracoscopy, a thin, flexible viewing tube called a thoracoscope is inserted through a small incision in the chest which permits the doctors to visually inspect lungs and the area between lungs and pleura — the membrane covering the lungs and lining the chest cavity. “Thoracoscopy will be helpful for pleural effusion,” said Dr Dhungana.

The new equipment will be helpful in all kinds of chronic respiratory and intestinal diseases. It will also come in handy in surgery of lungs and will be an advantage for pre-operative surgeries.

The hospital has also been providing pulmonary function test. “We are upgrading our health services as the number of patients with respiratory diseases is on rise and there is less awareness in patients about respiratory diseases,” informed Dr Dhungana.

Cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are rising due to increasing pollution and population density in the country,” said the doctor.

As per World Health Organisation, total deaths from COPD are projected to increase by more than 30 per cent in the next 10 years unless urgent action is taken to reduce its underlying risk factors, especially tobacco use.

Estimates show that COPD would become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2030. The Global Burden of Disease Study reports the prevalence of 251 million cases of COPD globally in 2016.

Depending on cases, doctors in the hospital have been delivering services to more than 50 patients suffering from respiratory diseases from its chest unit on a daily basis. The hospital has been a referral centre for patients with respiratory diseases after the medical facility started its separate unit since 2016.