Nepal’s beds run out of COVID waves, hospitals run out of oxygen Coronavirus pandemic News

Kathmandu, Nepal – The Sukraraj Hospital for Tropical and Infectious Diseases in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu is packed – so crowded that in many cases the two patients share a bed – the second wave of COVID-19 floods the country’s health infrastructure.

Health experts and primary care staff say the situation is “almost apocalyptic” because hospital beds and oxygen are scarce, as the national vaccination campaign is almost interrupted and the death toll is so high that massive incinerations are taking place. held.

“We have been caring for patients in every corner of the hospital premises. We are also using the garage to accommodate as many patients as possible, ”said Beli Poudel, a nurse at Sukraraje.

“We don’t get sick away, we try to get in despite having limited capacity,” Poudel told Al Jazeera, adding that COVID-19 is treating more than 120 patients in a 104-bed hospital with only 24 ICU beds. . The hospital, which suffered a major flood of critically ill patients affected by the second wave of the pandemic, has already doubled its capacity.

For several weeks, many Sukraraj workers – the only facility specializing in tropical and infectious diseases in Nepal – have been living in shelters or hospital premises away from their families.

With just over 21,000 tests on 19 May, Nepal recorded 8,173 COVID cases and 246 deaths, the highest number since the pandemic broke out last year. Health experts believe the actual numbers could be much higher as tests remain low. More than 5,600 people have been killed since the pandemic began, nearly 2,000 in recent weeks alone, according to official data.

The pandemic has particularly affected the Kathmandu valley and the western part of the country bordering the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The region is one of the least developed in Nepal, with a high concentration of indigenous and ethnic and religious minorities.

Shahbaz Ahmed, a resident of Nepal in western Nepal, lost his three brothers – Zahir, Ejaz and Imtiyaz – in the first week of May against coronavirus.

Three brothers in their 40s were receiving treatment at Bheri government hospital due to health complications.

“The doctors couldn’t save them despite trying as hard as they could. Maybe it was Allah’s wish,” Shahbaz told Al Jazeera over the phone.

Zahir, the youngest of seven siblings, was a former member of the national under-19 cricket team. “He (Zahir) was the best of all the brothers,” Shahbaz said.

Shahbaz, who mourns in isolation like the rest of his family, ruined his disabled health infrastructure.

“I thank the health workers for putting their lives at risk. But I think the government and politicians are not fulfilling their duties, ”he said.

Health experts and primary care staff said the situation is “almost apocalyptic.” [File: Prakash Mathema/AFP]

Biren Budhathoki, a resident of Dang in western Nepal, said a delayed diagnosis killed his 38-year-old cousin on May 14.

Most hospitals, except large cities, do not have a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing machine to make a diagnosis that is essential to prevent and prevent death.

“By the time we got the result of the PCR test, my cousin had already developed pneumonia. We were taken to COVID-19 Hospital shortly after he died at the local nursing home in Salyan,” Budhathoki said.

The rising number of cases in the country has caused alarm bells, as Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and the health minister have publicly admitted that the hospitals were overflowing with patients.

The families are outside the crematorium, waiting for the bodies of relatives who died with COVID to arrive in Kathmandu. [File: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

“The number of infections is tightening the health system; it has become difficult to provide patients with the hospital beds they need, ”Olik wrote in an opinion piece in the Guardian newspaper, asking for help from the international community.

Experts have linked the Nepalese peak to the second devastating wave of a northern Indian resident. Until mid-April, COVID’s deaths were limited to a single number. At 6.51, Nepal’s death rate in millions of days is the worst in South Asia.

Bed shortage is a common problem in Nepal, with about 18,900 beds across the country, 1,450 ICUs and approximately 630 fan beds. New Delhi, the least populous capital of India, has over 4,000 ICU beds.

Anup Bastola Sukraraj, the hospital’s chief adviser, told Al Jazeera that all ICU patients are in serious condition.

“While we have 24 ICU beds, we only have 12 fans. All of them need fans but we couldn’t supply them,” he said.

The number of doctors per inhabitant in Nepal is also one of the lowest in the world, with 0.17 doctors per 1,000 people, and 1.34 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants in India.

According to the media, at least 12 ICU patients have lost their lives due to oxygen shortages since last week reports.

Pramod Paudel, a doctor at Bharatpur Hospital in central Nepal, said his hospital admits fewer patients than its capacity, admitting only 144 patients despite having a capacity of 200 because of a disruption in oxygen supply.

“Sometimes when we are running out of oxygen stocks, we worry about whether we will be able to get more for poor patients. We can’t take more patients because of oxygen shortages, ”Paudel told Al Jazeera.

A woman has oxygen cylinders filled in a factory after a shortage of oxygen [File: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

In recent weeks, health care, including oxygen tanks, has been entering from around the world, but officials say there is not enough to meet demand. There have been many Nepalese living abroad. Nearly a third of Nepalese work abroad.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Population confirmed that it had detected a third COVID variant in the country, B.1.617.2, which is believed to be highly contagious for the first time in India. The new variant was detected in 97 percent of the samples collected in 35 districts of the country. The other two variants are B.1.617.1 and B.1.1.7.

“We may be somewhere near the summit, where the infection rate, according to conservative government estimates, is between 40 and 50 per cent,” said Basu Dev Pandey, one of Nepal’s leading virologists and former head of Nepal’s Epidemiology and Disease Control Division. Ministry of Health and Population.

More than 80% of those infected will be cured, according to epidemiologists, but the recovery rate is not an indicator to measure the impact of the pandemic.

It is the deaths per million that indicate how good or bad the situation is.

Nepal is the worst in South Asia. pic.twitter.com/NuhGUbYyAn

– Arpan Shrestha (arpanshr) May 20, 2021

“The severity of the infection is very similar to India. We also share a wide and long boundary, as cross-border movements remain unregulated. Flights between the two countries are still underway, ”Pandey said. Kathmandu has banned other international flights.

Nepalese health experts warned in March of the risk of a more lethal variant of coronavirus entering India.

The warning was not justified, as Nepal had a porous border of almost 1,700 kilometers with India. Millions work in Nepal in Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, and many began returning in April as several Indian states imposed blockades as a result of the country’s second devastating wave of COVID.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Oli for prioritizing politics over the country’s pandemic response – for dissolving parliament and dividing political opponents who were trying to oust him from office. At the same time, the prime minister continues to recommend unproven herbal medicines, saying Nepalese have better immunity to the virus.

Prime Minister Oli has received criticism since before the political pandemic [File: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

At an event in Kathmandu last month, the prime minister claimed, albeit with a warning, that gargling with hot water boiled in guava leaves could ward off COVID. “Even vaccines can’t guarantee 100 percent protection,” Olik said.

Gehendra Lal Malla, a professor of political science at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, said Oli said unfounded remedies and clear notes about the immune system have tricked people into taking the virus lightly.

“It was understandable that Nepal did not have good medical infrastructure like the West, China and India, but there was plenty of time and money to buy ICU beds and fans. But Oli was more concerned with securing his life than saving lives,” Mallak told Al Jazeera.

Although experts have called on the government to speed up vaccinations, the well-known vaccination unit has fallen short of expectations after the Indian Serum Institute (SII) suspended the supply of AstraZeneca jab, despite receiving payment in advance. SII – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer – has halted exports to prioritize India, and has claimed tens of thousands of deaths in the past two months.

Nepal, a poor country with a population of 30 million, has included nearly two million people, mostly first-class workers, since inoculations began on January 27. To date, the country has received more than three million vaccines, 800,000 doses from China and 348,000. Doses at WHO-led COVAX facilities.

Defending the government’s management of the COVID situation, former minister Mani Chandra Thapa told Al Jazeera that all political parties should be blamed for focusing more on power games instead of pandemics.

“It’s true that the government could have worked more effectively. But let’s not forget that other parties were creating obstacles by trying to throw the government in the middle of the pandemic. Therefore, we should all take the blame and move forward to fight the virus,” Thapa said.