Jajarkot, March 21

Jajarkot District Hospital has established an isolation ward with 30 beds as precautionary measure against coronavirus.

Chief at Jajarkot Health Service Office Tikaram Jaisi said the hospital has set up the isolation ward to treat COV- ID-19 patients.

“Health organisations and health workers in the district are on high alert,” he said, adding that no health worker would stay on leave until the battle against the disease was won.

The precautionary measure was taken keeping in mind the increasing number of Nepali workers returning home from neighbouring India.

Jaisi said suspected patients would be treated in the isolation ward of the district hospital and their throat and blood samples would be sent for lab-test in Kathmandu. “We have a medical team on standby to deploy to the areas where problems occur,” he added.

He said health desks were set up in Chededaha of Surkhet and Tribeni of Dolpa and one would be established in Khalanga-based Shantichautara Bus Park.

Hospital Development Committee Chairman Dharmashila Basnet said the hospital would provide free ambulance service to those suffering from high fever, common cold and respiratory illness.

“We are on high alert as the district has time and again been affected by various epidemics,” she added.

Four municipalities and three rural municipalities in the district have been launching awareness programmes against the coronavirus through various health organisations in the district.

Chairman Narendra Shahi of Shivalaya Rural Municipality said residents were requested not to attend mass gatherings and to wash their hands with water and soap frequently, eat food only after washing hands and visit nearby health facilities immediately if they suffered from fever and common cold.

Those requests were made in line with the directives of the federal government as precautionary and preventive measure against the coronavirus, according to Shahi.