B&C Hospital requests COVID-19 patients needing ventilators, ICU, beds for admission

KATHMANDU : The recovery rate of patients infected by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at B&C Hospital in Birtamod, Jhapa, is higher than many hospitals inside the country. It is claimed that the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital is very low due to the availability of skilled medical staff, modern physical infrastructures and specialized services.

The hospital is currently treating patients from Province 1, Province 2 and various other districts like Kathmandu, Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Parsa, Chitwan, Kaski, Banke, Mugu, Doti, and Kailali with the help of its “Air lift” service. As many as 22 critical patients who arrived at the hospital using the expensive “Air Lift” service are undergoing treatment. Recently, many infected patients have been arriving at the hospital due to acute shortage of ventilators, intensive care units (ICU) and medical oxygen in Kathmandu and various other districts.

According to the hospital’s administration, many of the infected patients have been released from ventilators and are being discharged after showing improvement in their health conditions. Also, former chairman of Janata Bank and director of Global Bank, Keshav Rayamajhi and his wife were admitted to the hospital on Saturday with the help of its air lift service.

As stated by the executive director of B&C Medical College and Teaching Hospital and Research Center, Durga Prasad Prasai, the mortality rate of the patients undergoing treatment at B&C hospital is very low and the number of patients recovering from the virus is high. He also stated that “there has not been any shortage of necessary equipment like ventilators, high dependency units (HDU), intensive care units (ICU), and medical oxygens for patients who are affected by COVID-19. We have prepared ourselves with all necessary equipment that are needed to save lives.”

Due to the increase in the crowd of infected patients arriving at the hospital using its ‘air lift’ service, the hospital has brought into use 200 additional beds to manage the influx of patients.

At the moment, the hospital is also making preparations to establish an oxygen plant and add more beds if necessary. As stated by the hospital administration, ICU with 65 ventilators have been set aside for the critically-affected patients and 60 doctors and health workers are on standby.

There are currently 900 beds in total at Purbanchal Cancer Hospital and B&C Hospital. According to Prasai, “The rapid response team is active in battling the pandemic. The government must also facilitate the conversion of all wards in the hospital into COVID wards if the number of COVID-19 patients rises. The aim of the hospital is to prevent deaths due to the lack of treatment.”

Currently, senior physician for intensive care and anesthetist, Dr Rajiv Shrestha, physicians duo Laxman Thakur and Karun Pokhrel and Orthopedic Dr Insak Khan have been treating COVID-19 patients.