19-bed isolation ward in Bharatpur Hospital

Chitwan, March 12

Bharatpur Hospital, which had earlier set up an isolation ward with five beds for possible coronavirus cases, has upgraded the ward with 14 more beds.

“More beds have been added in the isolation ward set up to treat possible coronavirus cases scaling our alert against possible transmission of coronavirus,” said Novel Corona Prevention and Control Coordination Committee Coordinator Dr Sheeram Tiwari, the hospital’s chief medical superintendent.

Likewise, the hospital has also bolstered its three-member Covid-19 Outbreak Management team by including more members. The team has a total of 13 members now.

“While two persons got themselves tested for coronavirus and the results were negative earlier, we sent the sample of a suspected case to the central laboratory today. The suspected patient is in self-isolation now,” said Dr Tiwari. According to hospital Information Officer Lila Poudel, the hospital has urged the locals to be alert against the virus and to contact the hospital in case of suspected symptoms.

Similarly, the hospital is also preparing to run an awareness programme against the virus. “We’re preparing to disseminate information through posters, pamphlets and the likes,” said Poudel. The hospital is visited by around 1,500 patients every day.

Nepal detected its first coronavirus patient around two months ago, who has since recovered. Since then blood samples, throat swabs of 445 people suspected to have contracted the disease have been collected but none has tested positive.