The district hospital in Sankhuwasabha, a mountain district in Koshi Province, is overwhelmed with patients, forcing the hospital authority to keep patients on the floor and passage due to a lack of enough beds.

Of late, patients suffering from dengue, scrub typhus, diarrhoea and seasonal flu are on the rise at the hospital. The health institution fails to manage beds for the serious patients who need to be admitted in the hospital.

Bhakta Bahadur Dahal of Chainpur Municipality-11 took his nine-year-old grandson Roman Dahal to the district hospital last week as he suffered from fever and diarrhoea. The doctor involved in his treatment advised to keep Roman under doctor’s monitoring. So he was admitted to the district hospital.

But Roman could not find a hospital bed. A bed was improvised by joining two benches. “He is lucky to find benches,” Bhakta Bahadur said. The boy was discharged following treatment on Sunday.

The 50-bed hospital is overcrowded with the patients mostly having similar symptoms of fever and diarrhoea. The hospital has no alternative to arrange temporary beds on the passage and floor.

People from Sankhuwasabha and northern part of neighbouring Bhojpur district visit the hospital for treatment. As per the data available at the hospital, around 300 patients visit the Out Patient Department (OPD) daily and 60 others seek treatment in the emergency unit.

“The patients’ flow has increased over the past two weeks,” said Dr Pranam Jayaru, chief at the Sankhuwasabha district hospital. “We started making temporary beds by using benches with the increasing number of patients lately. Around 15 such temporary beds have been prepared to provide treatment to the patients.”

The patients and their attendants have been facing difficulties and hardships due to overflow of the patients. They have to walk through the crowded passage and hospital floor.

“The hospital is overcrowded with patients and their attendants,” said Durgesh Paudel, a local of Dharmadevi Municipality. He brought his wife to the hospital a few days ago for delivery. “It’s difficult to walk through the passage as patients are kept on the benches. There may be chances of infection to the patients as well due to the crowd.”

The hospital does not have space to manage the increasing number of patients. Three of its buildings are under construction. As per the project agreement, the construction of the buildings had to be completed by the end of the last fiscal year. According to the hospital administration, around 90 percent work has been completed so far.

“The hospital has been operating physiotherapy and immunisation services by taking a building on rent,” Jayaru said. “The hospital also does not have required human resources to provide quality health services to the increasing number of patients.”

The hospital has a total of 17 permanent posts of the doctor. However, only five permanent doctors along with a half a dozen doctors appointed on contract have been providing services currently at the hospital.

Four die of diarrhoea in Narainapur, Banke

NEPALGUNJ: Four people died of diarrhoea outbreak at Gegali village of Narainapur Rural Municipality-3, Banke, over the past couple of days. Angat Shahi, chief at the district health office in Banke, confirmed the deaths.

According to Shahi, 26-year-old Upa Pasi, her one-year-old daughter Nandani Pasi, 65-year-old Kamati Pasi and 10-year-old Yusuf Ali Seikh died of diarrhoea. Five people of two families in Gegali village suffered from diarrhoea. Two of them died in India during treatment, two died at home, while one returned home following treatment.

“It seems that the people fell ill from diarrhoea. They died as they did not visit the health institution on time,” said Shahi, suspecting that the diarrhoea spread in two families due to unsafe drinking water. According to him, a health team has been dispatched in the affected area for treatment.

Narainapur had been the hotspot of Covid-19 epidemic in 2020 as many people died and hundreds of villagers were infected with the coronavirus.

(Rupa Gahatraj reported from Nepalgunj)