Bir Hospital, which has been providing meals to its in-patients free of cost has stopped providing them morning and afternoon meals. The hospital administration said that it has been compelled to do so.
"It is not our choice but a compulsion," said Rajeshwori Pandey, dietician at Bir. She further informed that the hospital has stopped providing breakfast to patients since over a week and has been using firewood to cook meals.
Hospitals stop admitting COVID-19 patients as govt sets quota o...
A man at the Bir Hospital canteen cooks food for patients using firewood on Thursday. He said the canteen has run out of cooking gas. (Dinesh Gole/Republica)
According to Pandey, the diet section of the hospital has asked the hospital administration for cooking gas and it has also approached the gas company, but to no avail. "We even requested the gas company but they expressed their helplessness," complained Pandey. She said that the diet section has been using broken wooden furniture to cook food with. The hospital has also brought firewood from the home of a staffer and this has helped for a few days. The home was destroyed in the big earthquake.
"We have now bought 1,000 kg of firewood but I don't know how long this will last," she said. The hospital needs two cylinders of cooking gas every day.
Meanwhile, nine public hospitals in the capital have demanded 1,700 liters of diesel, 200 liters petrol, 18 cylinders of cooking gas and 245 cylinders of oxygen from the government. A meeting of the nine hospitals held on Sunday has sought assistance from the prime minister for procuring vital supplies, including fuel.
Big hospitals like Bir, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Patan Hospital, Maternity Hospital, Kanti Children's, Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center, Manamohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center (MCVTC), BP Koirala Lions Center for Ophthalmic Studies and Civil Servants Hospital have submitted a written letter to Prime Minister KP Oli about the urgent problems faced by them.
TUTH said that it needs 300 liters of diesel, 50 liters petrol and two cylinders of cooking gas every day. Similarly, Bir Hospital said it needs 200 liters of diesel, 80 cylinders of oxygen, about 50 liters of petrol and two cylinders cooking gas. "We had requested PM Oli to see to the supply of essential needs at the hospitals," said Dr Swyam Prakash Pandit, director at Bir.
Dr Jageshwor Gautam, director of the Maternity Hospital, informed that the hospital needs 200 liters of diesel, 40 liters petrol and around 75 cylinders of oxygen every day and 10 cylinders of cooking gas a month. TUTH and Patan Hospital have their own oxygen plants.
Director at the Civil Servants Hospital said that the hospital needs 30 cylinders of oxygen, 100 liters of diesel and two cylinders of cooking gas a day.He informed that the hospital does not have problems of any kind and has only drawn the attention of the prime minister to the general crisis.
