Local levels of Chitwan step up preparation for isolation centres

By Narayan Adhikari, Kathmandu - With the rise in the risk of coronavirus transmission in the district, local levels here have stepped up their preparation for constructing isolation centres. They have intensified their efforts for preparing isolation structures to keep asymptomatic patients of coronavirus.

Bharatpur metropolis has started constructing isolation wards at Bageswori while four municipalities of the eastern Chitwan are constructing the structure at Ratnanagar. Similarly, Madi municipality is working to devise isolation wards at Chharchhare. Bharatpur is preparing isolation wards on the premises of Yogi Naraharinath Ashram in a way to operate the service from Sunday. Ratnanagar, Kalika, Khairahani and Rapti municipalities have jointly managed isolation wards at Ratnagar-5 Jhuwani and are running the services from today. Madi municipality has already prepared isolation at Chharchhare.

In this connection, Bharatpur mayor Renu Dahal shared the metropolis is preparing isolation wards on the premises of Naturopathy Hospital in Bageswori-based Yogi Naraharinath Ashram. Final round of discussion is being held on the managerial aspects of the isolation wards, she added. Earlier, the metropolis has operated 50 quarantines to keep corona suspects so as to contain the outbreak of the virus. However, this is so far the first isolation structure to be managed by the metropolis.

Metropolis chief administrative officer Prem Raj Joshi said the isolation centre would be immediately capable of accommodating 90 people and its capacity would be later expanded to manage 200 infected people. He further said the managerial responsibility of the isolation centre would be handed to the Naturopathy Hospital. According to Ratnanagar municipality mayor Narayan Ban, an isolation centre of 62 beds is coming into operation at the training centre of Agriculture Cooperatives in Ratnanagar-5, Jhuwani. Its capacity can be amplified to accommodate up to 100 indigent people, he further said.

Likewise, Rapti municipality mayor Prabha Baral said isolation space would be expanded if the number of corona-infected patients continually increase. The municipalities are making their preparations to devise isolation in the Nepal Army’s Military Residence Secondary School, Gunjaman Hospital and Radhaswami Organization among others. Madi municipality mayor Thakur Dhakal said a community building with a capacity to accommodate 20 has been transformed into an isolation centre at Chharchhare. Likewise, an isolation centre has been arranged on the premises of the Armed Police Force Nepal Number 3 Gadhimai Brigade at Rapti in the east Chitwan.

As many as 49 APF personnel here have contracted the virus and they are being kept in isolation as per the stipulated safety protocol, said brigade chief Deputy Inspector General of Armed Police Mandeep Shrestha. According to Chitwan Chief District Officer Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, health workers, security personnel and ambulance service would be made standby in the isolation centres managed by the local levels. He further shared that a total of 113 infected have recovered and returned homes while three have lost their lives in Chitwan. Number of total infected has so far reached 323 in the district. The asymptomatic infected people would be kept in isolation centres of the local levels as the government has decided to keep only the symptomatic patients in hospitals.