Another attendant, Santosh Basnet, shared a similar view. However, initiatives are being taken to maintain hygiene and sanitation at Bir, the country´s oldest hospital.[break]
"Unhygienic toilets affect all patients. It particularly affects those suffering from Urinary Tract Infection, fever and typhoid," said Pushpa Bhatta, a nurse at the male ward. Inhalation of foul smells also affects patients suffering from Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disease, Bhatta added.
"I admit that the hospital is very dilapidated," said Professor Dr. Buland Thapa, director at Bir. "However, we´ve initiated a cleanliness program and are working to bring basic changes to the current functioning of the hospital."
The changes include managing waste and scrap, sanitation and creating a disciplined staff team. According to Thapa, it will take almost a year to make the hospital well-functioning.
Mismanagement of waste affects not only the hospital. It also affects the residents of Kathmandu, directly or indirectly, Thapa explained. Waste from hospitals is piled in the backyard and later taken by city authorities for proper disposal. The authorities dump the waste at the grounds of Nepal Airlines Cooperation. Later, it is dumped at Sisdole.
Unlike normal waste, hospital waste is infected and hazardous to health. Its disposal can directly or indirectly affect the health of locals. It is also harmful to living organisms and environment. Such waste is not easily recycled and is usually discarded and disposed at landfills. Unmanaged disposal of this waste can affect the land in the long run.
"No one was concentrated about these basic considerations before. Things were left as they were. As a result, problems continued to exist while hospital patients and their attendants suffered from lack of sanitation and cleanliness," Thapa said.
To a larger extent, health and sanitation standards are proportionate to education levels and the economy. Educated and well-off people are usually more aware of health, hygiene and sanitation. "Most patients who come here are from weak economic backgrounds and seldom literate. As a result, they lack knowledge of primary sanitation and cleanliness, and liter here, there and everywhere. This too is a hindrance," Thapa said.
The hospital has deputed responsibility for managing its waste to Health Care Foundation Nepal. The hospital has also been training its staff to focus on sanitation and proper dumping of discarded medical instruments at the respective places. As a first attempt, the hospital has declared the male ward a model in waste disposal. Similarly, in order to create space, the hospital has set up a scrap committee. At the moment, tons of scrap accumulated over the 121 years the hospital has been in existence is to be found here.
"We´ve initiated things, but there is still a long to way," Thapa said.
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