NEPALGUNJ, April 28: The stock of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) used by medical professionals during the treatment of COVID-19 patients and the transportation of dead bodies is depleting fast at Bheri Hospital. According to the hospital administration, more than a hundred PPE sets are being used per day. The chairman of Bheri Hospital Development Committee, Pramod Dhital stated that the hospital is running out of protective gears and has a very few PPE in its stock.

According to the hospital administration, the stock of PPE will not last even a week. “Purchasing PPE sets is hard at the moment because of the lack of budget. When we talked to the higher officials about the budget, we were told to purchase them ourselves for the moment and that the budget will be provided later. We are not in a position to purchase it on our own,” he said.

As stated by the medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Prakash Thapa, “A major problem is bound to rise due to the shortage of PPE.” “Due to the fast-depleting stock of PPE, talks are being held in order to purchase new ones,” he added. “We would have purchased them ourselves if the hospital development committee had enough budget, but that is not possible at the moment,” Thapa said.

According to Chairman Dhital, the hospital has decided to build a ‘liquid’ oxygen tank in order to prevent the scarcity of oxygen. The oxygen tank will be connected within a week. At the moment, the hospital is losing Rs 300,000 a day which will decrease to Rs 100,000 once the liquid tank is complete. The hospital purchases an oxygen cylinder at Rs 115 and has been using over 250 to 300 oxygen cylinders a day.

 
• Bheri
 
• Coronavirus
 
• PPE
 
• Depleted