Features
3 MIN READ
Shortage of protective gears, supplies and ventilators in Nepal likely to cripple medical interventions against Covid19
Health facilities, including big hospitals in major cities across the country, are on the brink of terminating services due to shortage of basic health kits and medicines as the number of Covid19 related patients seeking medical attention is gradually rising. With a third positive case - a migrant worker recently returned from the Gulf - officially confirmed on Wednesday, 25 March, and the ensuing panic, this number is expected to rise even more.
Wednesday also saw the Birat Medical College and Teaching Facility Hospital in Biratnagar make an urgent public appeal for health kits that are critical to medical staff including N-95 masks, protective medical goggles, surgical goods, face shields, medical gloves, medical shoe covers and sanitisers.
Shortage of medical supplies and drugs is a crisis that is likely to hit most hospitals in Nepal in the coming weeks, including the ones already providing frontline services for Covid19. Additionally, it is likely to create a further dent in their capacity to cater to patients requiring dialysis, chemotherapy and other regular services.
"We are quickly running out of even essential medicines like hemodialysis solutions, chemotherapy drugs and so much more," the Biratnagar based hospital said in a statement.
Anup Bastola, a spokesperson for Sukraraj Tropical & Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku, said, "So far, we haven't faced major problems, but we could soon face shortages given the rise in the number of new Covid19 patients.”
The government has tested 687 people for the virus as of March 25, according to MoHP. Stories of people arriving for testing, but being denied have been making rounds on social media. A resident of Lalitpur that the Record spoke to shared anecdotes about being turned down for testing when he went to Patan Hospital with symptoms of the novel coronavirus.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Bhanubhakta Dhakal said the government was coordinating with provinces and local bodies to ensure a smooth supply of essential provisions. However, health workers in many hospitals are reportedly refusing to attend to patients, especially due to lack of protective gears.
As the number of critical patients increases in case of a Covid19 related health emergency, many fear that the nation’s limited availability of ICU wards and ventilators will have a crippling effect on the healthcare system’s capacity to provide adequate care and prevent deaths. So far, there are approximately 1000 ICU beds across the nation, and last week, the government made a decision to set up an additional 220, including 100 outside Kathmandu. Doctors predict that Nepal may need over 100,000 ICU beds as the crisis peaks.
Inadequate health infrastructure and shortage of medical supplies required specifically for battling Covid19 have intensified the crisis across the world. On 21 March, Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, stated that his state was “literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies”.
Meanwhile, more people are showing up to hospitals in Nepal to be tested for Covid19 after two more people, both recent returnees from abroad, have tested positive in the last four days.
The government has started collecting samples from around 125 individuals who had boarded a Qatar airways Doha-Kathmandu flight on 17 March, the same flight taken by the 19-year-old student returning from France via Doha who tested positive for Covid19 on Sunday.
::::::::
The Record We are an independent digital publication based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Our stories examine politics, the economy, society, and culture. We look into events both current and past, offering depth, analysis, and perspective. Explore our features, explainers, long reads, multimedia stories, and podcasts. There’s something here for everyone.
COVID19
Features
4 min read
On the eve of Dashain, the nation records yet another highest single daily rise in Covid cases
COVID19
News
2 min read
The government is scrambling to find much-needed beds for the infected, but is getting no help
Features
6 min read
The pandemic has exacerbated already fraught relations between journalists and their employers
COVID19
Features
4 min read
The government has relaxed all safety measures and is preoccupied with a political crisis, even as the UK variant of the coronavirus is believed to be much more infectious
The Wire
News
4 min read
Geopolitics, globalization, and climate change are affecting yak populations across the Himalayan region
Features
8 min read
Nepal is going through three mutually reinforcing crises – health, economic, and climate. A green recovery push could help the country climb out of all three in the long run.
Perspectives
12 min read
Increasingly, non-Dalits are not just perpetrating violence against Dalits but protecting themselves from subsequent punishment by filing false counter charges against the victims
COVID19
6 min read
Contact tracing is vital in breaking the chain of transmission, but Valley residents are not convinced the authorities will be of any help when necessary.