BPKIHS runs out of oxygen

DHARAN, May 7:  Owing to the ongoing Maoist shutdown, the stock of oxygen has been used up at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS). The institute is facing difficulty providing health services to patients in the absence of oxygen.



The situation arose after the institute could not procure fresh oxygen cylinders from factories which are closed due to the strike. The hospital´s administration said there were just 20 oxygen cylinders on Friday morning. [break]



“We no longer have oxygen stock. The shutdown has made it hard to manage its availability,” said hospital Director Dr DP Das.



The hospital gets oxygen cylinders from factories in Morang and Birgunj. The hospital administration said the hospital needs around 100 cylinders every day.



The hospital´s own plant that supplies oxygen to the emergency ward and ICU is insufficient. It meets only 50 percent of the hospital´s demand. As oxygen produced by these plants is directly supplied to the emergency ward and ICU, patients in other wards do not get supplementary oxygen facility.



At present, there are about 600 patients in the hospital, barring the patients in the emergency ward and ICU. Of them, almost half need daily oxygen supplement.

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