Beds for COVID patients in Kathmandu hospitals almost full

The beds that have been separated for COVID patients in the main hospitals of Kathmandu valley have almost been fully occupied as new cases of coronavirus infection have spiked of late. 

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) reported 3,442 new cases taking the COVID-19 tally to 303,561 on Monday only. Additionally, 114 persons have tested positive for the virus in the Antigen test conducted in the past 24 hours.

Likewise, the three districts of Kathmandu valley reported 1,912 new cases of coronavirus infection — 1,567 in Kathmandu, 223 in Lalitpur and 122 in Bhaktapur — in the past 24 hours.

Dr Anup Bastola, Spokesperson for Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, said 20 of the total 22 intensive care units (ICUs) have been fully occupied while all 12 ventilators are already in use for patients receiving treatment for the COVID-19. He also said all 55 beds at the isolation ward have already been occupied. Further, Dr Bastola informed that although 10 to 12 patients are discharged from the hospital upon recovery on average on a daily basis the same number of patients are admitted. He said the hospital has been accepting patients on the basis of urgency. Only those patients suffering from complex pneumonia and those who need medical oxygen are only being taken in while others are advised to stay in home quarantine and isolation.

"As we don't have enough beds for all the patients we refer patients to other hospitals," he said.

Dr Bastola asserted that the new variant of the coronavirus has a higher potential to spread and cause more deaths and urged all to adopt preventive health safety measures. "Although there is no exact study on how contagious the new variants are, it has been assumed that an infected person may infect 60 to 70 persons if they come in contact," shared Dr Bastola, adding that prevention is always better than cure, so people should understand that they should be aware of the infection.

COVID-19 infection through the new variant is said to have an incubation period of four to five days.

Meanwhile, beds in Bir Hospital have also been reported to be almost fully occupied as cases of coronavirus infection have been surging daily.

Bir Hospital has 17 ICU wards and five ventilator facilities, as per the Nepal Medical Association.

Likewise, the wards for treatment of COVID-19 patients at the Armed Police Force Hospital, Balambu, have also been reported to be fully occupied. The hospital's COVID-19 Focal Person, Dr Pravin Nepal, told NepalNews that all 140 beds have been fully occupied. Likewise, 20 ICUs and eight ventilators have also been occupied by COVID patients. Dr Nepal said, presently the hospital had been taking in patients who are on the waiting list. A total of 12 patients were admitted as soon as the recovered patients were discharged on Tuesday alone while 35 others have still been waiting for the availability of beds, he said. He also informed that those who have received the COVID vaccines recently are among the infected patients being admitted to the hospital. However, none of the inoculated patients' conditions have risen to a critical point and all of them have been receiving treatment in isolation.

Similarly, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital's condition is not very different from others. The beds in the hospital are also fully occupied. There are a total of 60 ICUs and 50 high dependency units (HDUs) in the hospital. There is one nurse available for each patient in the ICU while one nurse looks after two patients at HDUs.

There a total of 1,180 ICU wards and 512 ventilators in Nepal.