By Siraj Khan
Nepalgunj, Sept. 10: The first basic hospital of Banke has come into operation in Kohalpur.
Mayor of Kohalpur Municipality Lut Bahadur Rawat said that the 15-bed basic hospital was brought into operation on Thursday to counter the rising threat of the third wave of COVID-19 in the district.
Construction of the hospital is far from complete, but the municipality has started providing services from the one building which is finished.

“The number of COVID-19 patients has increased again in Kohalpur. So, we hurried to bring this hospital into operation,” Rawat said.
The hospital will open 24 hours a day and is able to provide Outpatient Department (OPD) treatment and admit patients, Chief Administrative Officer of the municipality Topendra Bahadur KC informed, adding that the hospital also had oxygen facility.

“The hospital has been established under the federal government’s ‘one basic hospital per local level’ policy,” KC said. The hospital is manned by a medical officer, two staff nurses, two paramedics, one lab technician and one lab assistant.

The municipality has stated that more health workers can be added if needed. The municipality will pay the salaries of the hospital staff from its budget since the federal government will not bear the costs.
Although, there are many government and private hospitals in Banke, COVID-19 patients were not able to get adequate treatment there. That is why, the basic hospital needed to be established, the municipality said.