By Netra Shahi
Khalanga, Apr. 7: The Karnali State government has begun various preparations in light of the increasing number of COVID-19 patients in the country, especially in the neighbouring Sudurpashchim State.
Karnali State has a large number of workers returning from India and other countries. With this in consideration, the State government has started actively coordinating with the health and other relevant sectors to take adequate safety measures and develop necessary infrastructure.
As per the government’s strategy, three hospitals in the state are being prepared to handle COVID-19 cases, with most emphasis being given to the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS), Jumla.
Karnali’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Naresh Bhandari also visited the Academy on Sunday to review its preparations and hold discussions about enhancing its ability to prevent, control and treat coronavirus infections.
During his visit, Bhandari also chaired a meeting of the State government’s high level committee for hospital mobilisation attended by members of the State Assembly Padam Rokaya and Dinbandhu Shrestha, former State Minister Bal Bahadur Mahat, chairman of the District Coordination Committee (DCC) Lal Bahadur Sarki, vice-chairman Karma Budha, Mayor of Chandannath Municipality Kantika Sejuwal, Chief District Officer (CDO) Durga Banjade, KAHS Registrar Bishwa Raj Kafle and other high ranking officials. All the attendees stressed the need to prepare strongly and seriously to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
Rs 10 million to KAHS
In the meeting, Minister Bhandari informed everyone that the State government had provided Rs 10 million to KAHS to purchase various equipment necessary to control and treat COVID-19 cases. He also informed that the State’s Ministry of Social Development would provide any required additional support.
He also appealed to all the officials to start preparing for any eventualities that may arise. “Looking at the international situation, it is better to start preparing now before the situation gets out of control,” he said.
Former Minister Mahat and Member of State Assembly Dinbhandhu Shrestha asked for a COVID-19 testing laboratory to be set up in KAHS. DCC chair Sarki urged the government to quickly bring ventilators and scan thermometers. Mayor Sejuwal informed that his municipality had set up a fund of Rs 10 million to fight the coronavirus and requested everyone to not bring in anyone other than essential personnel into the municipality.
Review of KAHS’s preparation
KAHS Director Dr Mangal Rawal informed the officials that the Academy had set up an isolation ward with 120 beds, ICU with 10 beds and that the Academy had five ventilators ready for use.
“We have also been organising public awareness campaigns for the past one month, have set up a COVID-19 task force under the leadership of Dr Dhiraj Gurung, have set up a separate Rapid Response Team and have been conducting health check-ups at various health desks and quarantine facilities,” he said.
Registrar Kafle said that the Academy had 32 specialist doctors and 26 medical officers and that its manpower had been deployed to various districts of Karnali.
Testing of suspected cases
Dr Niresh Thapa, Rector of KAHS, suggested a three-step model for testing of suspected cases. First step is tracing (identifying foreign returnees and people with suspicious symptoms), testing and treating. He claimed that the fight against the disease could be easily won by strictly enforcing tracing and quarantine measures.
Swab samples of six people sent for testing
KAHS has collected and sent swab samples of six suspected patients to Surkhet for testing. It sent them on Sunday and is now awaiting the test results.
The meeting also decided to ask the federal government to establish a swab collection centre at the Academy.
Mobile swab collection service
The central government has decided to run a mobile swab collection service to collect the swab samples of people coming from India and other countries.
According to CDO Banjade, the Ministry of Health and Population will run the service in three locations in the district and will collect 253 samples from foreign returnees in one day.
The three locations are Jumla Airport (for people of Chandannath, Tatopani, Tila and Guthichaur), Dewar Gaun (for people of Sinja) and Lasipatan (for people of Kankasundari).