BIRGUNJ, APRIL 21
Lack of oxygen has adversely affected treatment of COVID patients in Narayani Hospital, Parsa.
Doctors at the hospital say that oxygen shortage has hit 35 COVID patients undergoing treatment at the health facility.
The hospital is using around 50 oxygen cylinders on a daily basis. But, the supply is way below the demand leading to oxygen scarcity, doctors said.
Doctors warn that the hospital might run out of beds due to the rising number of COVID patients.
"Ten COVID patients are being admitted to the hospital on a daily basis. If COVID cases continue to rise at the same rate, the hospital will run out of beds," said a doctor.
Even doctors and health workers are not safe as the hospital has not managed a quarantine facility for doctors and nurses working at the COVID ward.
Hospitals at other local levels are not prepared to treat COVID patients.
Birgunj Metropolitan City has directed all private hospitals to allocate 20 per cent beds for COVID patients, but the directive has fallen on deaf ears.
Hospital staffer Akhilesh Tiwari said that their repeated pleas for oxygen and beds had gone unheeded.
Assistant Medical Superintendent Enamul Hak, however, said that the hospital did not have any problem.
Medical Superintendent Dr Sanjay Thakur could not be contacted as his mobile phone was switched off.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 22, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
