[ Robot nurse helping the corona infected]
By Rabindra Dhungel, 11 september 2020. The Madhyapurthimi Municipality has decided to deploy a nursing robot in its hospital to treat corona infections. Mayor Madan Sundar Shrestha informed that three nursing robots will be mobilized for the treatment of corona infected at the Nepal-Korea Friendly Municipal Hospital run by the municipality.
He said that PCR tests have been intensified to prevent corona infection in his urban area and isolation from quarantine and ICU with ventilator has been kept in readiness. Stating that the testing of the robot has been completed in the hospital, he informed that the nursing robot will be brought into operation from the first week of September and the medicine and food will be given to the patients by the robot. Stating that this will be the first hospital in Nepal to provide services through robots, he informed that a budget of around Rs 1.5 million will be spent for the three robots built by the youth of Nepal.
The municipality has tested 9,000 in its own PCR lab since April. Stating that 2,112 have been tested till August 8, Mayor Shrestha said that 327 people have been infected so far, 90 have returned home after recovery, 90 are in community isolation and 171 are in home isolation. Noting that the municipality has expanded contact testing to prevent catastrophic situations, he said: And we have provided encouragement by giving psychological counseling. ”
The municipality has set up a 30-bed isolation with oxygen and an 11-bed ICU with eight ventilators for the treatment of corona infected at the 85-bed Nepal-Korea Friendly Municipal Hospital, he said. The municipality has kept more than 100 suspects in the quarantine set up in a guesthouse near the hospital since last April.
The municipality has not yet received the PCR test kit from the government, but has purchased and managed it itself. Recently, the test has been intensified by purchasing 5,000 PCR kits worth Rs 500,000. The municipality, which has given high priority to the testing of health workers and security personnel within the municipality, had conducted free PCR test of 130 police personnel of Madhyapurthimi Police Circle on December 8 alone.
Mayor Shrestha said, “It has been decided to isolate the 50-bed capacity building in the training center of Bode Agriculture Development Bank. We will give priority to the residents of Madhyapur to keep them infected. The municipality will bear the cost.”
He has intensified the swab collection and testing by identifying the residents of the high-risk areas of Madhyapurthimika, the families of the corona infected, and those who have come in contact with them. The municipality has been collecting swabs in its own lab and reporting PCR within 12 hours of an emergency and others within 24 hours.