Manpower crunch hits ICU services

Bhaktapur, September 18

Bhaktapur Hospital is operating without intensive care services and thereby creating unwarranted problems for patients, particularly those undergoing surgery, although the government had recently completed all necessary preparations for running a five-bed Intensive Care Unit.

Hospital Management Committee Chairman, Navaraj Golal, said they had not been able to start intensive care services despite the recent establishment of a five-bed Intensive Care Unit with ventilator facility due to lack of manpower.

“All preparations are in place for running the Intensive care Unit; we only need to set up the machine, but the hospital administration, for unknown reasons has not been able to proceed with our initial plan to launch the service by mid-September,” Golal shared.

Patients have complained that the Bhaktapur Hospital, which was established after Bir Hospital, around a hundred years ago, has been referring patients to other hospitals.

Hospital Superintendent, Dr Hari Bahadur KC, claimed that the intensive care services had been delayed due to a lack of manpower.