'The disease has become unpredictable, and we are struggling to understand it.' As India’s Covid-19 surge has swept into Nepal, hospitals are reporting an overwhelming number of severe cases and similar shortages of beds, oxygen and ventilators.
KATHMANDU, Nepal—With all six ventilators at a hospital in central Nepal already being used by Covid-19 patients on Sunday, doctors asked the son of Lal Bahadur Thakur to try to find one somewhere else, as his father gasped for breath.has swept into Nepal, hospitals are reporting an overwhelming number of severe cases and similar shortages of beds, oxygen and ventilators.
“We have already lost two patients like him today waiting for ICU beds or ventilator support. We feel utterly helpless,” said Dr. Dipendra Pandey, who was treating Mr. Thakur at the government-run Trishuli Hospital in Nuwakot district, about 50 miles outside Kathmandu, the capital city. Mr. Thakur’s 20-year-old son, Chandan Thakur, made a flurry of calls to hospitals in the nearest cities—Kathmandu, Chitwan and Pokhara—as his father’s blood oxygen levels dropped below 60%. None of them had available beds or ventilators, he said.
On Monday morning, Mr. Thakur, 50, died of acute respiratory distress syndrome due to Covid-19, despite the hospital’s efforts, Dr. Pandey said.