BHAKTAPUR : Bhaktapur Hospital, the second oldest public health facility after Bir Hospital, has recently begun to render its intensive care unit (ICU) services to patients after 116 years of its establishment.
Built by the then Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher JBR in 1961 BS, it was initially named ‘Chandralok Dispensary.’ The now 75-bed Bhaktapur Hospital had only 15 beds at the time of its establishment.
The Bagmati State government has replenished the hospital with modern equipment and tools, as well as with services such as ventilators and ICU, informed the hospital’s Development Committee President Milan Suwal. ICU service in the hospital has come into operation since last Thursday, informed Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Sumitra Gautam.
The hospital has currently been converted into a designated COVID-19 treatment centre. It has five ventilators and six ICU rooms. Furthermore, the hospital has isolation rooms with 16 beds. Dr Gautam shared that the hospital saw a revamp after Minister for Social Development for the Bagmati State ordered an overhaul of the hospital.
Dr Gautam said that she spearheaded the positive changes in the hospital with a collective team effort from the hospital staffs. All regular services of the hospital have been open for to public amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, said the hospital management.
Currently, there are five COVID-19 patients in the hospital’s ICU, with ten receiving treatment in isolation rooms while 13 others showing symptoms of the flu-like infection.
Similarly, a total of 97 COVID-19 infected patients are being treated at the isolation facility in the premises of the Nepal Electricity Authority in Kharipati, Bhaktapur.
