KATHMANDU, April 29: Amid a rising number of COVID-19 cases in the Kathmandu Valley, doctors have urged local and provincial governments to join hands with the central government to establish additional medical facilities including isolation centers to provide treatment to COVID-19 patients.

Most hospitals providing treatment for COVID-19 in the Kathmandu Valley are already overwhelmed and COVID-19 patients requiring medical attention need to wait for several days to get an ICU bed.  As there are predictions that the infection rate could go up further despite the government’s measures to issue prohibitory orders, they believe that there is an urgent need to make necessary preparations for the contingency purpose.

Dr Sagar Rajbhandari, director of STIDH, said they have already run out of beds as the flow of COVID-19 patients requiring medical attention continues to increase in recent days. “There are no beds to keep any new patients. We cannot keep all patients together since we need to maintain physical distance. This has further complicated the problem,” he said.

“The hospital is already overwhelmed. Where do we keep new patients?” he asked while expressing concern that a large number of COVID-19 patients may have to die for not receiving even basic medical attention in the days ahead.

Dr Rajbhandari said that since STIDH alone cannot afford to provide treatment to all COVID-19 patients, the local governments should join hands with the central government to develop medical facilities including isolation centers to provide treatment to new COVID-19 patients. 

“The central government needs to develop additional isolation centers at the earliest. But it is not good to wait for the central government alone. The local governments should develop isolation centers in their respective areas,” he further said.

 
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