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The Ministry of Health and Population has decided to import 20,000 empty oxygen cylinders of from China to prevent a shortage of oxygen cylinders in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Ministry spokesperson Dr Jageshwar Gautam said the cylinders would arrive from China next week.

He said that there was no shortage of oxygen in the country but there was a problem due to lack of cylinders. "We don't have a shortage of oxygen," he said, "but the lack of cylinders makes it difficult for patients to get oxygen."

The ministry has instructed hospitals across the country to be in a state of readiness to manage the distribution of oxygen.

The ministry has requested hospitals and the public not to hold empty cylinders. Oxygen plants are currently connected to 30 hospitals across the country in Nepal. Hospitals have a combined capacity to fill 2,549 cylinders daily, the ministry said.

Liquid oxygen tanks have also been installed in some hospitals. Such hospitals have the capacity to fill more than 6,000 cylinders and oxygen vendors can fill 8,000 cylinders daily. RSS

At 4:45 am every day, since the start of the lockdown on April 29, 5,200 police officers sit down for a daily briefing at different stations across the valley. Much before our alarms go off, these men and women reach their designated places to begin their 15- to 16-hour-long duty.

SSP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, Nepal Police central spokesperson, says the police have been mobilized to implement the decisions of the government and the local authorities. They are simply carrying out their orders. But rule enforcers are often viewed as the enemy. The police have thus been having a hard time making people understand that what’s happening is for their own good.

“We are in a medical emergency but many don’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation,” says SSP Kunwar. He adds that it’s not unusual for people to be prancing about for silly reasons. Some are out on the pretext of having to buy paracetamol. Others cook up elaborate stories of going to visit an ailing relative at a hospital, only to look baffled and start stuttering when asked to provide the said relative’s name and room number.

SSP Kunwar thinks people were scared during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns but now the threat, for some unfathomable reason, doesn’t seem so real to them anymore. He wonders why people aren’t taking necessary precautions despite all that we’ve been hearing about the new virus variant.

On day one of the lockdown, 2,538 people were kept at different holding centers around Kathmandu for defying prohibitory orders. Day two saw a further increase in people doing so, with 4,219 being sent to the holding centers. On day three, 3,724 people were similarly held.

Confusion, thus chaos

According to SP Sushil Singh Rathore, the public seems confused about what’s allowed and what’s not. He says there is currently a semi-lockdown situation with only private and public vehicles barred from the roads. But with government offices, banks, and other organizations continuing to operate, there is a lot of movement.

The movement can basically be attributed to three factors that need to be addressed by the authorities, says DSP Nabin Koirala. There’s the airport excuse—you are either traveling or picking up someone. (Now, with the suspension of internal flights and only two flights coming in from New Delhi on a weekly basis this excuse may no longer hold.)  The other cover-ups have been PCR testing and going out to buy medicines.

“People tend to loiter around when out to get groceries in the morning. They don’t just do their shopping and go home. When we ask them to return, they lash out and question if we want them to starve,” says DSP Karki.

The police, adds SP Rathore, have been told to make sure everyone who is out has a genuine reason for it. So, those stationed at various checkpoints around the valley try to verify people’s reasons for being out when they should ideally be staying in. From calling their family members and colleagues to asking for medical reports and prescriptions, there are all sorts of ways to find out if someone is telling the truth. But most people are ready with solid alibis.

Except during the 7 am to 10 am slot, the police try to be as meticulous as possible about checking people’s passes and official documents. If they are found moving about unnecessarily, the police try to make them aware of the repercussions of their actions and caution repeat offenders. The argumentative ones, and there are quite a few, are taken to one of the valley’s 150 holding centers.

The problem is that very few are compliant, says SP Rathore. That often results in close contact between the police and public, which puts both parties at risk. Many people aren’t masked and nor do they follow social-distancing protocols. There have been instances when those out on the streets have refused to return home and dared the police to take them to the holding centers.

Public provocation

What many fail to understand is that the police aren’t brandishing their ‘power’ here. This, the police say, isn’t a situation where people should be fined or punished for their behavior, and they aren’t doing so either. Rather, their daily briefing, at an ungodly hour, is all about how they need to be kind, polite and request people to abide by the rules.

Everybody is going through hard times and the police are aware of the need to be empathetic. But telling someone to do what they don’t want to generally comes across as insensitive and sometimes even downright cruel. Thus, the police are often at the receiving end of taunts and emotional blackmail, with many people even trying to provoke them.

“There have been instances when the police have been provoked just to get a reaction. When an officer, who has been on duty for, say, 10 hours, gets irritated, someone whips out his phone and makes a video,” says SP Rathore. He adds that such 20-second clips show police shoving someone into a van, scolding someone, or behaving rudely. What they never show are what led to those particular moments.

He says he isn’t making excuses for bad police behavior. No matter what, the police have absolutely no right to be harsh with the public. Their primary aim is to serve and maintain order. But provoking the police for a viral video is becoming a regular thing and that’s problematic. 

Another seemingly insurmountable issue, say police spokespersons across stations, is that of shops in inner roads and alleys. Most small businesses try to stay open at all hours. They will hurriedly close the shutter when there’s police checking but, half an hour later, they open up again.

Altercations between shop owners and police are frequent, with the former often blaming the latter of trying to take away their livelihoods and make them suffer.

“Many behave like this is something they are being forced to do for others. It’s almost as if the virus poses no danger to them whatsoever,” says DSP Karki.

Friend not foe

SP Prajwal Maharjan, on the other hand, says there have been other pressing problems in recent days. One is of accidents due to speeding on empty city roads, especially in Ring Road. The other is concerned with domestic violence. The police have had to stop people on the roads to advise them to drive slowly as well as visit homes to settle disputes.

Daily calls to the police helpline (100) have increased during the lockdown, says sub-inspector Prem Shrestha. There are in equal parts complaints and queries and it’s becoming a herculean task to address them all.

All the police officers ApEx spoke to for this article say they feel at a loss right now. On one hand, they have to carry out their orders to ensure safety while on the other, they also realize why the public is angry and annoyed. It’s a difficult time and people feel trapped, scared, and helpless, which in turn make them hostile too.

What would help is for everyone to be a little more responsible, if not for their own sake, then for their loved ones, says SSP Kunwar. To beat the virus, we should all support one another and follow the government’s orders. Blaming the police and trying to deceive them serve no good purpose.

We are all guilty of pointing fingers at the police without checking our own actions. And that behavior only seems to have escalated in recent days. News of police forcefully closing stores or behaving ‘inappropriately’ travels fast. But rarely do we hear about the public misbehaving with them. Human nature is such that we are quick to make excuses for our own actions while not granting the same liberty to someone else.

Every police officer you see out on the road is talking to hundreds of people daily, says SSP Kunwar. S/he is saying the same thing to all of them—telling them to put on their masks, asking them where they are going and why, and requesting them to minimize movement. Each of them, just like the rest of us, is also dealing with personal problems in their lives.

Today, when the police too would have preferably stayed in if their duty didn’t call, it is upon us to be a little more considerate. SP Rathore begs for a little support and compassion. DSP Karki wishes people wouldn’t resort to name calling. Most crucial, however, SSP Kunwar says, is to understand the seriousness of the situation and see the police as their friends who have their best interests at heart.

Doctors and nurses nodding off on their feet from sheer exhaustion. Police personnel, half-asleep, running to enforce restrictions at the crack of dawn. Sanitary workers going door to door to college garbage. Bank workers facilitating the payment of our medical and food bills. Journalists reporting from hospitals and health centers around the country. They and countless others who are doing their duties in these difficult times, often at great risk to their lives, are our heroes. 

Yet even among them, the work of medical and police personnel are tricky. Doctors and nurses cannot work from home nor do they have the option of reducing their contact points. Given their shortage in Nepal, many are working 12- to 16-hour days, testing, tending to the ill, responding to emergencies. The police personnel deployed to enforce the Covid-19 restrictive measures are as overworked, reporting to duty at 4.45 am every day and working non-stop for the next 16-18 hours. In return, instead of a sincere ‘thank you’, those defying prohibitory orders often bombard them with abuses. 

ApEx would like to thank each one of the frontline workers who are involved in saving lives or in facilitating, each in their own way, our daily, cooped-up existence. Our lives would be so much more difficult without you. Heck, we might not even be alive. 

A few days ago, a 38-year-old woman from Galyang died on the way to Pokhara where she was being rushed for treatment. The woman, who was infected with corona virus, died due to lack of oxygen.

Similarly, three others have died due to Covid-19 in Syangja so far since the beginning of the Nepali new year. As the second wave of corona virus infections is on the rise in the country, many hospitals are facing shortages of ventilators. However, the four ventilators available at Syangja Hospital are kept in the storeroom.

Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr Ramesh Acharya said the ventilator had to be kept in the store as they were useless without skilled human resources to operate them. He said, “Anesthesiologists and trained nurses are needed to operate the ventilator.”

"As the condition of patients who need ventilator support is always critical, the work of a technician operating a ventilator is extremely sensitive," he said.

Chief District Officer Deepak Raj Nepal informed that the District Crisis Management Committee has decided to set up a 10-bed isolation ward in the hospital. The hospital administration stated that an isolation room is being prepared at the hospital accordingly.

The Gandaki state government provided the ventilators to the district hospital located in Putlibazar Municipality-3. An isolation center was also set up at the hospital during the first wave of corona infections.

The number of coronavirus infections in Syangja is increasing day by day. As of Tuesday, the number of infected people has exceeded 216. Of those infected, 186 are being treated at home, 25 in various health facilities and five in quarantine centers.

Bishnu Prasad Subedi, chief of the health office in Syangja, said none of the 10 hospitals in the district has ICU and ventilator facilities despite having a capacity of 210 beds.