80 percent COVID beds are vacant in hospitals of Banke

RANJHA : The situation is now normal in Banke, which had become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic during the second wave. Only 74 patients are being treated at the hospitals in the district. Tej Oli, a resource person at the District COVID-19 Crisis Management Center, Banke, said that only 13 people are originally from Banke out of the 74 people who are currently being treated at the hospitals in Banke.

According to Oli, as the COVID infection rate in Banke is declining, the beds allotted for COVID patients in the hospitals are becoming vacant. Out of 361 hospital beds for COVID patients in Banke, only 74 are occupied by COVID patients who are being treated. About 80 percent of the beds are vacant. Of the 361 beds set aside by four small and large hospitals in Banke, 271 beds have become vacant. Of the 200 beds of Bheri Hospital in Nepalgunj, 125 beds have become vacant.

Out of 60 patients being treated at Bheri Hospital, 18 are in critical condition. Of the 130 beds allotted in COVID ward of Kohalpur-based Teaching Hospital, 116 are vacant. Of the 14 patients being treated at the hospital, eight are critically ill, said a source.

There are 15 beds alloted for COVID patients at United Hospital while 16 beds allocated at Western Hospital, all have been vacated. In Banke, 657 people, including 347 from outside of the district and 310 from the district, have died due to the coronavirus infection.