By Nabin Sishir BK, Baglung, May. 12: Following a massive surge in COVID-19 cases, all the hospital beds in the district have been occupied with virus-infected patients whilst the majority of patients are staying in home isolation.

As the healthcare system in Baglung was facing a difficult situation after health workers deployed for the treatment of COVID-19 patients started being infected, a nurse has been providing health service to the patients in home isolation at free of cost.

Staff nurse Neetu Khadka of Baglung Municipality-1 has been providing door-to-door health services to the coronavirus infected patients staying in home isolation without charging any fees.

"Along with conducting the necessary health checkups of the patients, I have also been providing psychological counseling, in order to reduce their stress," said Khadka.

She added that she was not associated with any health institution as an employee as of now.

Khadka worked on the frontline for the treatment of COVID-19 patients for six months at a temporary hospital set up by TaraKhola Rural Municipality last year during the first wave.

"Currently, I am providing the services that I learned last year free of cost. Volunteering is more important than obtaining economic benefit during the crisis," she said, adding that if everyone would work from their ends without the motive of earning a profit, the nation would overcome the crisis in a short span of time.

Khadka has been providing free health services by declaring it publically from May 4. Until now, she has already provided health checkups and psychological counseling to seven virus-infected patients of Baglung Municipality-1 including one who had been admitted to institutional isolation.

Some of the patients who had received her services have already recovered from the infection.

"After I declared that I would be providing free services via social media, many people from Kathmandu and Bharatpur also contacted me to provide consultations to their infected family members," said Khadka.

"The overwhelming responses from everyone, including the patients have motivated me to do more. Thus, I will be providing service free of cost until the pandemic ends," she added.

Three years earlier, Khadka had initiated a campaign, first of its kind in Nepal, to distribute the first aid equipment to schools, public vehicles, and houses in the district by coordinating with various organisations.

She added that the health equipment that she had been using for the health checkup of COVID-19 patients was as per the public health protocol. "Patients having a decent economic background themselves provide me with the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and when I visit patients who do not have a sound economic background, I myself manage to wear PPE," said Khadka.

She added that symptoms like fever, cough, cold, backache, deficiency of Vitamin-C were common in patients at home isolation. "I have been recommending the medicines accordingly," said Khadka.