Kathmandu, April 18

Two female coronavirus patients — one 19-year-old and another 65-year-old — who had been undergoing treatment at different hospitals, were discharged today after they tested negative twice.

These patients include the second coronavirus positive patient who had been undergoing treatment at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku. Another female patient discharged today was a 65-year-old woman who had been undergoing treatment at Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital.

The 19 year-old Kathmandu girl, recovered fully after 27 days while the sexagenarian woman recovered after 17 days.

The 19-year-old girl had returned from France via Qatar on March 17.

Director of STIDH Sagar Kumar Rajbhandari said the hospital discharged the 19 year-old girl after full recovery. The hospital has told her to come for a follow-up visit after staying in home quarantine for a week.

“Although the chance of a cured patient infecting healthy people is slim, we have advised her to stay in home quarantine for a week as a precautionary measure because we have been reading news reports about cured COVID-19 patients retesting positive,” Dr Rajbhandari said and added that all her health parameters were fine and the next time she visited the hospital, her parameters would be checked again. He said the purpose of admitting COVID-19 patients to the hospital was to prevent infection from patients to healthy people, but if the number of COVID-19 patients continued to rise, government authorities might advise the patients to isolate themselves at their own house. “Only those people whose symptoms are severe require hospitalisation for oxygen therapy and ventilator support,” Dr Rajbhandari added.

The second patient, who was discharged from STIDH today, thanked the doctors who treated her and said she was ready to donate her plasma to help treat COVID-19 patients. Talking to Nepal Television, the woman said self-isolation was very important to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. “I did not give the virus to any of my family members because I was very cautious about the risk and isolated myself at home from the day I returned from a foreign tour,” the girl said.

Asked what her message was to other COVID-19 sufferers, she said shortness of breath, one of the telltale signs of the disease can make patients nervous, but they should not lose their self-confidence as they could defeat the disease. The girl said the media should be sensitive about not stigmatising COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile the PM congratulated the cured patients and thanked doctors involved in their treatment.

Chairman of Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital KB Rana Magar said that the 65-year old woman was discharged from hospital late in the evening after she tested negative twice.

Chief Medical Superintendent of Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital Dr Shailendra BK Pokharel told THT that his team had told the 65 yearold woman to stay in home quarantine for two weeks.

The second COVID-19 patient, a 19- year- old girl who has been undergoing treatment at Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital for the last 22 days tested positive for the fourth time.

Meanwhile, one 21-year-old youth who is undergoing treatment at Seti Provincial Hospital, Dhangadi, has tested negative. His second sample was sent for test today and if he tested negative again, he would be discharged, said Hospital Spokesperson Dr Jagadish Joshi.

The youth was admitted to the hospital on April 4. Four other patients are still positive. Three patients tested positive for the third time and one tested positive for the second time.

COVID-19 patients are discharged from hospital only after they test negative twice. The first patient who had contracted COVID-19 in China underwent treatment at STIDH and recovered in January.

There are now 28 patients undergoing treatment in six hospitals across the country.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 19, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.