The five health workers in Parbat who were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Thursday have yet to be placed in isolation, as the district’s health administration faces resource crunch amid surging cases of infection.

The district hospital has urged the authorities concerned to arrange for a hotel or a government building to keep the infected health workers.

One of the infected health workers had gone to his village in Bihadi Rural Municipality before he was diagnosed and he remains there, said Sambhu Prasad Regmi, chief district officer and coordinator of the district-level corona control command post.

“He will be brought to the hospital soon,” he said.

The other infected health workers are isolating themselves in the hospital quarters, where they lack food and other facilities.

“Four of the infected are isolating themselves in the hospital quarters but they are worried about their health,” a hospital official said over the phone. “There is also the fear of contracting the infection among other health workers who share the same building.”

Shishir Devkota, medical superintendent of the district hospital, said they were still waiting for the authorities to respond to their request for a proper accommodation to keep the infected health workers in isolation.

“We have requested the authorities for a proper accommodation but we haven’t heard from them yet,” Devkota said.

A team of health workers has also sent a letter to the corona control district command, pointing to the severe negligence in the handling of the coronavirus crisis in the Parbat.

“If the existing situation persists, then more health workers will get infected,” the letter reads. “This risks the spread of the virus among service seekers and we won’t be able to treat them. We call for an urgent attention to this situation.”

CDO Regmi, however, blamed the health workers for not staying in the designated isolation centre for front line workers.

“We had decided to turn Blue Angel Resort in Kushma as an isolation centre for health workers, but they returned saying the place was filthy,” Regmi said. “We have asked the resort administration to clean it up and place the health workers there.”

Devkota said that with the infection among the staff, the hospital has limited human resources to treat the patients.

The hospital had assigned eight health workers for corona treatment and half of them have been infected.

“The infected staff were treating the patients until they themselves tested positive for the virus,” Devkota said.