BAGLUNG, September 10: With the monsoon still showing no sign of retreat, number of patients in Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital has been rising. Patients visit the hospital complaining of viral fever, diarrhea and dysentery. As they come with care takers, the large number of visitors has given a tough time to the hospital to manage the crowd.
“In one hand, the patients have grown by manifold. On the other hand, they are accompanied by visitors. The hospital is too crowded,” said Tirtha Raj Gautam, information officer at the hospital. “There is no outbreak of epidemic here but the scene suggests otherwise,” he added.
People from all over the zone opt for the hospital due to better infrastructure as well as cheaper charge for service. But the hospital has limitations, said Gautam. “We may take it positively that people trust government hospital. But we are feeling the heat due to over-crowded hospital,” he noted.
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According to Dr Sagar Rajbhandari, over 250 patients have been visiting the hospital on a daily basis since the last few weeks. They come from several districts, he informed.
“They come here for treatment of typhoid, diarrhea and dysentery, among other diseases. The number of patients has grown dramatically,” he said. He added that some people are also coming for health insurance.
“Of late, people are taking interest in health insurance. More and more people are informed about it,” he remarked.
As per the insurance policy, a family with five members may benefit from insurance worth Rs 50,000 when they pay Rs 2,000 every year. And this has quite attracted people, Rajbhandari said.
Meanwhile, Manjesh Bam Malla, president of the hospital development committee, lamented the lack of space and bed at the hospital. He stated that the growing number of patients are not getting proper service due to the limitations of the hospital. “This has affected the quality of our service. We feel sorry for them but we have limitations,” he said.
He stressed the need to add more beds. Similarly, he also shed light on the delay over the construction of the proposed hospital buildings.
