Within a week, all of the beds at the Bheri Hospital in Nepalgunj designated for COVID-19 patients had been filled.

"We had planned to keep 72 beds for COVID-19, but they are all taken. We then added ten more beds, but they, too, were quickly filled. There is no way to admit any more infected patients "Dr. Prakash Thapa, the hospital's medical superintendent, told.




Currently, the hospital is treating 74 COVD-19 patients, 42 of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and seven of whom are on ventilator support. Five of the patients are under the age of 18 years old.

As more COVID-19 patients with complex conditions arrive, he said, the hospital lacks sufficient human resources. According to Dr. Thapa, the hospital currently has only one critical care doctor and seven doctors, despite the fact that the 42 ICU patients need at least five critical care specialists.

Infection has been on the rise in Banke district, as it has in many other parts of the world, in recent years. Patients with milder issues are kept at home, and only those with medium and complex problems are admitted to the hospital, according to him.