Madhyabindu District Hospital of Nawalparasi East District has faced a lack of skilled human resource to operate the ventilators.
Medical Superintendent Bir Bahadur Thapa, the chairperson of the Hospital, said that the three ventilators available in the hospital since last year are not in operation. The required post of an anesthesiologist and a physician for operating the ventilator is not available in the hospital.
Information Officer at the district hospital, Chhabilaal Subedi, informed that the hospital could not hire human resource because it doesn’t have authority to announce the vacancy for the specialist service to hire. The hospital has received two ventilators in the last fiscal year and one additional ventilator in September of this fiscal year from the Gandaki Province Government. It took a long time to fit the ventilators and didn’t come into operation even after its fitting in the district hospital. The Province Government had assisted to functionalize a five-bed ICU with three ventilators in the district hospital. The hospital has faced the problem due to the inability to manage the manpower required for the operation of the ventilator despite the operation of the intensive care unit (ICU). Ventilators are in high need in the current critical and dire situation of COVID-19 infection. The severe patients of COVID-19 are required to be treated with the support of a ventilator in the ICU. The needy patients are forced to reach neighbouring district Chitwan because the district hospital could not manage to operate the available ventilators.