Mahakali Hospital’s isolation ward filled with COVID-19 patients

The isolation ward at the Mahakali Hospital at Bhimdattanagar of Kanchanpur district is full of COVID-19 patients. Fifteen patients have been admitted to the ward with a capacity of 20 beds.

One person who has tested positive to coronavirus in the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) has also been kept in the isolation ward. The hospital started treating COVID-19 patients since Tuesday. Seven persons with coronavirus infection from Gauriganga municipality of Kailali district were brought here and admitted to the ward on Wednesday alone.

They were brought here due to the lack of beds to keep them at the isolation ward at Seti Provincial Hospital, Kailali. The remaining eight patients are from Kanchanpur district. All the patients are India-returnees.

Dr Saroj Acharya of the Mahakali Hospital said that 16 people suspected of carrying coronavirus have also been admitted at the hospital. He said the hospital is filled with patients and suspected cases also due to the delay in getting the results of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests of these patients.

Lack of hospital beds is being faced in the district also due to the delay in the operation of a 50 bed hospital being constructed by the Sudurpaschim State government. The ICU of Mahakali Hospital’s ICU also lacks ventilators. There are only eight ventilators in the 14 ICU wards in the Sudurpaschim State.