The hospital said consultant doctors will see the patients and initiate necessary treatment immediately. [break]The move is likely to provide some relief to the family members of the sick children as they will be assured that specialist are looking after their kids at any hour of the day. Currently only medical officers see patients in emergency in most of the hospitals including Kanti Children Hospital.
The hospital authority has sought government approval for hiring four consultant doctors for emergency department. The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has consented and has asked the Election Commission (EC) to grant permission to hire additional consultants in Kanti Hospital. The Hospital source said that the EC has given a nod to ministry´s request.
“We are told that the EC has given its consent to hire consultant doctors, but we are yet to received a formal letter from the ministry in this regard,” Director of hospital, Dr RP Bichha, said. He said ailing children from across the nation come to hospital as it is only children´s hospital in the country.
“Medical officers have to see patients, who are already treated by doctors in district hospital, zonal hospital or regional hospitala,” he said. Doctors refer the patients to the center only when ailments cannot be diagnosed or treated in their centers.
Due to inability of the hospital to provide 24 hours consultant care, people are compelled to take their children to private centers which are extremely expensive. The hospital said most patients referred by the district or regional hospitals are brought to the hospital in the serious condition.
“We have turn away patients because we have only six beds in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,” he said. The hospital administration said it was planning to install 10-bed Intermediate Care Unit (high dependency care unit) where the hospital can move patients from ICU before transferring them to wards. “We can accommodate more serious patients if we can install intermediate ICU,” Bichha said.
The hospital does not have ENT service, Ophthalmology and Dental service. ENT services was shut down nine months ago. “After ENT consultant resigned, the service came to a grinding halt,” Ramesh Narshing KC, duty officer at hospital administration said. He said the administration had asked ministry to appoint ENT consultant but to no avail.
He claimed that hospital was providing services at very low prices. The hospital also provides free treatment to the patients if their parents cannot pay. “No one has to be deprived of treatment if they do not have money. They can get treated in the hospital,” he added.
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