By Netra Shahi, Jumla, Nov. 12: The government has provided two ventilators to Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS) in Jumla for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Amrit Bhandari, an officer at the KAHS, informed that the department of health services had handed two portable ventilators to the academy.

Likewise, Dr. Mangal Rawal, director of KAHS, said that the treatment of COVID-19 patients would be easier now with the additional ventilator.

The academy now has 10 isolation beds and eight ventilators.

"The department of health services has said that it will be providing two more ventilators soon," added Dr. Rawal.

After the increase in the number of symptomatic COVID-19 patients, the meeting of the District Crisis Management Committee had decided to demand additional ventilators from the central government.

The academy said that none of the patients had required ventilator facility until now. However, two persons placed in isolation had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, said the academy.

As many as 379 people have contracted the novel coronavirus in Jumla until now, informed Om Prakash Devkota, assistant Chief District Officer and information officer.

Devkota added that majority of patients recovered while staying at home in isolation.

The KAHS, by sending specialist doctors all over Karnali, has been conducting various programmes to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The academy has also been collecting swab samples of suspected patients who had recently returned to Nepal from other nations for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test.

According to the data revealed by the Ministry of Health and Population, the academy has conducted 29,470 tests until Wednesday.