70-year-old Chitra Bahadur Gurung from Madi rural municipality-11 Baraldanda of Kaski is a chronic patient of sugar-pressure. He was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Gandaki Medical College (GMC) in Pokhara Nayabazar for 3 days after his health suddenly deteriorated.

He was transferred to another hospital in Pokhara on Tuesday for treatment. He was taken to another hospital after the GMC nurse protested.  While he was being taken from the hospital in an ambulance, the nurses at the back were shouting slogans demanding 'fair price of labour'. The services of two large private hospitals in Pokhara, Gandaki Medical College and Pokhara Manipal Teaching Hospital, have been affected due to the nurses' movement. 

Both hospitals have sent some patients home, some have been referred to other hospitals after looking at the condition of patients in the wards. Only these two private hospitals in Pokhara have Nepal government's health insurance program. That's why the number of patients here is high. Both the hospitals have OPDs in operation. No new patients have been admitted. Patients who need to be admitted have been advised to go to other hospitals. 

After the service of both the big hospitals running on insurance has been affected, the number of patients has increased in the Western Regional Hospital under the Pokhara Institute of Health Sciences. Prada co director of

foundation. Premraj Pangeni said that the number of insurance patients increased after the service was affected in private hospitals. He said that private hospitals are coordinating and referring patients. You have sent us that you are this kind of patient. We have told them that we will keep patients as long as our capacity and resources allow,'' he said.

He said that patients who needed to be admitted came directly to the emergency room, so the pressure there increased. He said that due to the increase in the number of patients coming to the emergency, manpower management is being prepared. After being examined at the OPD of other hospitals, patients who need to be admitted have started going to the emergency room in West Bengal. This hospital has 500 beds. Due to the availability of doctors and nurses, the hospital is currently serving 400 beds. 

Manipal and GMC have run the service of special care beds in ICU, NICU, HDU. Krishna Paudel, information officer of GMC, said that patients who need to be kept in ICU, NICU are being treated with the help of nursing in-charge and some other nurses. He said that those who can be sent home have been discharged and those who need treatment have been kept. 18/19 people are still in the ICU. There are 9 people in the NICU,' he said, 'We had to discharge some of them overnight.' Even if the patients who can be treated in private hospitals do not face any problem, if the services of both hospitals are not started immediately, the insurance patients will be in trouble. As the services of both hospitals are affected and the pressure in the western region is high, the insurance patients who need to be admitted are forced to go to Veer and Tervi Teaching Hospitals.