Should the doctors decide to stop treating the patients altogether, they will have no option other than to seek treatment in private hospitals

The mass resignation of doctors at Nepal’s oldest and biggest government health institution, Bir Hospital, couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. The country is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases in recent times, with thousands of cases added daily, with more than half of them diagnosed in the capital. On Wednesday alone, the country saw more than 3,300 cases with close to 1,900 reported in the Kathmandu Valley. Thus, the resignation of 16 doctors working in the emergency ward at Bir Hospital on Wednesday could impact the treatment of both COVID and non-COVID patients as they are kept in the emergency ward, although they have not stopped providing their services there. Exposed as they are to the coronavirus day in day out while treating COV- ID-19 patients, the risks that the doctors are taking are enormous, and attending to their demand for standard personal protective equipment (PPE) and masks is the least that the hospital management could do. Their demand for allowances also is justifiable given that they were asked to work 24 hours in the COVID-19 ward without a break. It might be recalled that the hospital had to stop all services, except emergencies, at the beginning of September after more than 70 health care providers, including doctors, nurses, lab technicians and others, tested positive for the virus.

The hospital could see a repeat of the situation if the required precautionary measures are not taken, especially if quality protective gear are not provided to the frontline health care providers and if there is negligence in segregating the COVID patients from the non-COVID ones. The hospital is said to need about 200 PPEs per day, but given its resource constraints, it is in no position to provide them.

The doctors are having to do with reusable gowns and surgical masks, putting them and the safety of the patients at risk. Some doctors have even been purchasing the protective gear, gloves and masks on their own.

Should the doctors decide to stop treating the patients altogether, the patients will have no option other than to seek treatment in the expensive private hospitals. The Bir Hospital sees about 50 patients in its emergency ward daily. It is unfortunate that the country relies on imports for all the health apparatus and kits needed for the testing and treatment of corona patients. The government had all the time during the lockdown to plan for the manufacture of such emergency equipment in the country itself, which would have been more affordable and readily available.

The National Innovation Centre, a leading research centre, had initiated a project to develop and distribute PPE, booths, aerosol boxes, ventilators, robots, disinfection boxes and more to the frontline health workers to tackle the virus. But due to lack of resources, it can manufacture them only in limited quantities. Given the rising number of corona cases and the difficult situation that the country finds itself on all fronts – from education and health to industry, transport and tourism – it would be in the interest of everyone if the doctors and the Bir Hospital management came up with a middle path to resolve their bickering for now.

Technical education

Our education system is very traditional and pedantic.

Even a highly talented student can only read and write well but lacks innovative ideas and a practical approach. The sole purpose of education should be to make a person skilled in his or her discipline besides developing their reading and writing skills, which are essential for communication. Our schools – public or private – and even colleges or universities do not have any facility to train the students in the technical fields that can be useful in life.

At a function the other day, Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel rightly pointed out the need for making optimum use of science and technology, linking education with skill and productivity. As the education minister, Pokharel himself should show the way how our education system should function in the 21st century. We cannot expect our students to learn important life skills as long as our teachers are not trained in the technical fields. First of all, we need to make changes in our education policy which may help develop our educational institutes as centres for technical excellence. In order to make the students skilled, we need to make huge investments in technical education.