Budget meant for medical oxygen withdrawn

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT  Humla, July 18: Budget allocated for the medical oxygen in Humla hospital has been found to be withdrawn even when the cylinders were empty after the oxygen ran out in the hospital. 

As the oxygen cylinders are fragile goods, the budget was withdrawn due to non-matching of the shipping rates with the private airlines. Prem Bahadur Singh, Head of the Health Service Office, Humla, said that the budget allocated for oxygen filling and transportation was returned in the annual programme of the financial year 2022/23. 

He said that among the 45 cylinders weighing 54 kg at the hospital, 43 are currently empty, but they could not be filled up by taking them to Nepalgunj.

Currently, there are only two oxygen cylinders in the hospital. He said that it was possible to fill up at Rs. 500 per cylinder in Nepalgunj, but due to non-agreement with the private airlines, the transport rate was returned without spending Rs. 1 million. He said that the cylinders are currently empty in the hospital because the private airlines have said that they could not transport the cylinders without receiving Rs.500 per kg. 

They also charge Rs. 80 rupees per kg to send the cylinder from Simkot to Nepalganj. There is no option but to return the budget after the fares demanded by the private airlines do not match the rates fixed for the district, said Singh.  The hospital is reeling under the shortage of medical oxygen after the cylinders were emptied.  A medical oxygen cylinder has a capacity to provide oxygen to one to five patients at a time. 

At present, the hospital is providing oxygen from a cylinder attached to five beds from a small oxygen plant it has. Sarita Bohara, a senior nurse at the hospital, said that they were providing oxygen to the patients as per their needs. "We are compelled to treat patients without oxygen when five beds are full," she said.