Though the government has principally agreed to operate 300 beds in the hospital, it has been bearing expenses for only 100 beds. This has compelled the hospital administration to keep patients suffering from diarrhea, fever and other ailments in the same ward. [break]
Six hundred patients -- third highest patient inflow in the country-- visit the hospital every day. The BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan receives the highest number of patients, followed by Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu.
“The hospital needs to have at least 500 beds,” said Giridhari Chaudhary, president of the Hospital Development Committee. “But the government has not allowed this. We have been keeping patients on the floor.”
“If the government added 200 beds, we would manage an additional 200 on our own initiative,” he added. “But the file that had reached the Ministry of Finance a year ago is still awaiting approval.”
Hospital gets ICU in 46 years
Meanwhile, Health Minister Umakant Chaudhary laid foundation stone for the construction of ´A Block´ building of the Bharatpur Hospital and inaugurated the newly constructed ICU section on Wednesday.
Chaudhary inaugurated the ICU and laid the foundation for ´A Block´ building of the only government hospital in Chitwan during a function organized to mark the 47th anniversary of the hospital.
Around 600 people visit the hospital daily. It is the third largest hospital in Nepal in terms of the number of patients that visit the hospitals after BPKIHS in Dharan and Prasuti Griha in Kathmandu.
The hospital has got an ICU ward just now, 46 years after its establishment.
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