Ventilator 'bank' boosts Covid-19 fight in Nepal's hospitals

Co-founder of the non-profit organisation Nepal Ventilator Services, Bishal Dhakal, checks ventilators at a warehouse before they are rented out to hospitals treating Covid-19 patients, in Kathmandu.

A ventilator ‘bank’ where hospitals can rent critical care machines for Covid-19 patients has given Nepal's cash-strapped healthcare system a much-needed lifeline. The Himalayan nation, like its South Asian neighbours, experienced a spike in infections in April and May with hospitals overwhelmed and medical supplies running low. As the infectious disease started to spread across the impoverished nation a year ago, Nepal only had 840 ventilators for a population of nearly 30 million, according to government data. Most of the ventilators -- needed to help severely ill Covid-19 patients breathe -- were in the capital Kathmandu, leaving regional and rural hospitals vulnerable.