Arjun Poudel

Last week, a 30-year-old migrant worker, rescued from Saudi Arabia and placed in a holding centre for quarantine in Kathmandu, reached Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku on his own, after he had tested positive for Covid-19.

The man had gone to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for the test, where he was diagnosed positive.

Among several other people who lined up for the Covid-19 test at the Sukraraj Hospital on Friday, five were migrant workers who had returned from the Middle East and were housed in a holding centre in Kathmandu. They had reached the hospital on their own.

“Four of them tested positive for the coronavirus,” said Dr Sagar Rajbhandari, director at Sukraraj Hospital. “They all are in isolation at our hospital.”

Every day dozens of people rescued from Arab countries and placed in holding centers for quarantine are seeking polymerase chain reaction tests at the Teaching Hospital and Sukraraj Hospital on their own.

"They come to our hospital not only for tests but also to collect the reports on their own," Dr Santa Kumar Das, coordinator of Covid-19 treatment at the hospital, told the Post. "They start disputing with hospital staff, when they are denied reports."

According to Das, the hospital administration was not allowed to give reports of positive patients and had to be furnished at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division only.

Most of the people rescued from the Middle East and placed in holding centers are testing positive.

"They are roaming in the hospital premises, arguing with hospital staff and talking with other patients seeking treatment at our hospital," said Das. "We have also drawn the attention of the Health Ministry officials about the risk of the disease spreading in the hospital and outside, to no avail."

The government has converted some hotels and party venues in Kathmandu into holding centres to quarantine Nepalis returning from abroad. The responsibility of ensuring security in those holding centers is assigned to the Nepal Army.

"People rescued from abroad and placed in holding centres come to our hospital every day on their own for a test, " a doctor at Sukraraj Hospital said on condition of anonymity. "Such people are found roaming in the hospital premises and talking to people as no one knows who are rescued from abroad and who are not."

Public health experts say the government’s negligence could cost the general public and the country dearly.

"I wonder what else we can do if we cannot ensure security in holding centers and send health workers to such facilities to collect samples," Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, chief of the Clinical Research Unit at Sukraraj Hospital, said. "If we keep ignoring the risks, the disease will be spread in the community."

The Health Ministry also concedes that people placed in holding centers are reaching hospitals on their own for tests as health workers have not been deployed for sample collection.

"The Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre is responsible for regulating the movement of the people quarantined in holding centers and collecting samples," Dr Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson for the Health Ministry, told the Post.

“This type of mistake should be corrected. Those people should not be let out on their own. They should be either taken to hospital by the authorities themselves or call health workers to such centers for swab collections."

Meanwhile, the Army, which is tasked with ensuring security in holding centers, said that only the returnees who had polymerase chain reaction tests performed abroad are being allowed to go out on their own.

"Those people might have gone out for additional tests to be further assured," Nepal Army spokesperson Brigadier General Bigyan Dev Pandey, told the Post. "Other people, who do not have test reports can also go out for tests under the supervision of the Army."

Nepal has been seeing a steady rise in Covid-19 cases, with the number of infections reaching 15,964 on Monday. The country has reported 35 deaths so far.

Published on: 7 July 2020 | The Kathmandu Post