The World Health Organization's country office in Nepal on Wednesday furnished a draft report about the condition of the isolation facility set up at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku some 10 years ago.

A team from the UN health agency had inspected the facility at the request of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division in June last year. The WHO furnished its report to the division amid concerns regarding Nepal’s preparedness to deal with outbreaks of deadly viral diseases.

"We are currently studying the draft report submitted by the WHO Nepal office," Dr Basudev Pandey, director at the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, told the Post.

Officials at the division and the hospital had requested for the report after WHO alerted its member states about the risk of transmission of a new strain of coronavirus—nCoV—that originated in Wuhan city of China.

Doctors say isolation in a hospital setting is a precaution taken to prevent further spread of infection, which if left unchecked, could jeopardise the health of other patients, hospital staff, visitors and the community at large.

According to Pandey, an expert team from the UN health agency has pointed out several factors lacking in the isolation ward set up at the hospital. The team recommended fulfilling the requirements for the isolation ward to be operable.

The WHO team has recommended arranging an “isolation transport” ambulance to transport suspicious cases and setting up isolation rooms at the hospital's out-patient department and the emergency ward to limit contagion risk to other patients and health workers.
Constructing a ramp to ease the movement of patients to the isolation room and installing high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are the other recommendations made by the team.

Pandey said it would take millions of rupees to bring the isolation ward into operation. The ward was set up with the support of the World Bank almost a decade ago at the time of the avian flu epidemic. Since setting up the ward, not a single patient has received treatment there.

"We have to go through a public procurement process for even minor upgrades," said Pandey. "It takes months to fulfil all procedures."

Health experts say Nepal is highly vulnerable to contagious diseases—especially the new strain of coronavirus nCoV, as the inflow of Chinese tourists is high in the country.
The country aims to attract two million tourists in 2020, including 350,000 Chinese tourists, under its Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.

Meanwhile, a team of health workers comprising technicians from the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division visited the health desk set up at the Tribhuvan International Airport to study the possibility of setting up a thermal scanner and an air-conditioned room.

The health desk was brought back to operation last week after the WHO alert about the possible coronavirus pandemic. Images of the health desk that were widely shared on Thursday, however, showed a notice board that asked passengers coming from Africa to go through screenings.
The notice many believe could have been put up at a time when there was an Ebola outbreak in Africa, and authorities were oblivious to the fact that they needed to update the notice board also.

“There seems to be some lapse; we will change it,” Dr Hemanta Chandra Ojha, an official at the division, told the Post.

According to Ojha, the division will now also set up a thermal scanner at the health desk. “The airport authority has agreed to let us place a thermal scanner and make other safety arrangements there,” Ojha told the Post. Earlier, the airport authorities had appeared reluctant to let the division set up a thermal scanner citing security reasons.

Thermal scanners tell the exact temperature of the human body in air-conditioned rooms only.

The division on Thursday also imparted training to health workers serving at Teku hospital on precautionary measures to take during an outbreak of deadly viral diseases.

At least 17 people have died and over 570 have been infected by Wuhan coronavirus. Chinese authorities have locked down three cities—Wuhan, Ezhou and Huanggang—in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. Air service, train, bus, ferry services in all three cities have been suspended and people have been advised to stay indoors, according to the New York Times.