Bajura District Hospital is receiving more than 100 patients of seasonal diseases—like fever, flu, diarrhoea—on a daily basis.

The overwhelming number of patients at the hospital is a cause for concern, said Dr Lokendra Nath of the district hospital. “We receive patients throughout the day, but we are facing difficulties to provide them treatment on time due to the sheer number of patients.”

Health workers said that most patients are children and women. Kitti Chandara, 45, of Badimalika Municipality, who has been suffering from a chest infection and urinary infection, was found standing in a queue for her turn outside the lab. “I’m finally up for my check up after waiting for four hours,” she said.

Man Bahadur Dhami, another patient who has been suffering from fever for the last five days, said that he could not meet a doctor even though he waited until 2pm on Friday. “I came here at 7am but still could not meet a doctor. There are just too many patients waiting in line,” he said.

The hospital currently only has three doctors, when it should be having five. Rohit Giri, chief at the hospital, said that the patients from the entire district depend on the hospital for health services. “We have patients coming in from all over and we don’t have enough doctors to cater to all of them,” he said.