KATHMANDU, JUNE 3

Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital in Sinamangal has been shut for an indefinite period after two of its health workers contracted COVID-19.

The hospital’s Medical Director Dr Mukunda Raj Joshi issuing a notice today, informed that the hospital would be closed for indefinite period for disinfection. Two patients and two health workers at the hospital tested positive for coronavirus.

The hospital’s emergency ward has also been shut till further notice. “We would need 24 to 48 hours to disinfect the hospital before resuming service,” said a hospital source.

The hospital refuted the Ministry of Health and Population’s statement that four medical professional of the hospital had contracted the virus.

A doctor working at the hospital said that a patient who had undergone neurosurgery in the hospital around eight days ago had contracted the virus.

“We requested the government to test the patient for the virus before operation, but the government didn’t acted promptly and we could not wait,” said a doctor on condition of anonymity.

The same patient was transferred to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19. The patient succumbed to the virus today, becoming the ninth patient to die due to the virus in the country.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 4, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.