PM to medics: Follow code of conduct

Kathmandu, July 28 - Bir Hospital, the oldest government hospital of the nation, has completed 121 years of service since its establishment.

Addressing the anniversary function, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Wednesday said that the hospital was not only the oldest but also the most accessible for the poor and the people from far flung areas of the nation.

Targeting these villagers, the hospital should provide quality and prompt service, he said.

Saying that Bir Hospital was the only alternative health institution for the people from Mechi to Mahakali, PM Nepal said that ultramodern facilities with advanced technology should be established in the hospital.

Forgetting the medic’s code of conduct, some physicians halted the emergency services of the hospital in the past, Nepal said and asked the physicians to work under their code of conduct as patients took them as gods.

As the country was suffering from a transitional phase, physicians should be sensitive to their duty during this period, the PM said.

As the interim constitution guaranteed health as a fundamental right, PM Nepal asked doctors to provide services fairly.

He committed the government’s support for them.

Dr. Bulanda Thapa, director of the hospital, said in addition to political interference bugs, fleas and rats were crippling the health care system of the country’s oldest public hospital.

Bugs and fleas had been creating trouble to patients, doctors and nurses for some four or five years now, he said.

Shilu Sharma, from Tanahu, said that it was hard to sleep at night due to the bug bite in the cabin.

Dr. Thapa informed that he had started a campaign against the bugs, fleas and rats.

"We are careful about cleanliness and have started spraying insecticides once a week and maintaining old beds and damaged things," he said.

On the occasion of its 121st year service, the hospital had started a triage system, that is, a process of prioritizing sick or injured people for treatment according to the seriousness of the condition or injury from the last two weeks, Dr. Thapa informed.

Emergency beds have been divided into red, green, yellow and black to prioritize the patients for medical treatment as per their conditions.

Doctors and nurses will alert the patients as per the division.

Four beds are kept in red area, similarly, eight in yellow and 10 in green, he said. Doctors, nurses and employees working in the emergency have been trained according to system.

Similarly, the hospital also has established the central oxygen system to provide oxygen using pipes to emergency patients needing it.

Around 1000-1500 patients visit the hospital and 25- 40 surgeries are completed daily.

Even though the hospital provides 75 per cent treatment free of cost, its monthly income was around Rs. 8 million, hospital sources said.

According to an annual report, the hospital’s annual investment was around Rs. 350 million.

This year the Ministry of Health and Population has set aside Rs. 350 million for the trauma centre