Pokhara, Sept. 16 -- The Cabinet meeting of Gandaki Province on April 28 had decided to set up an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in all district hospitals. Accordingly, the Social Development Ministry disbursed a total budget of Rs 149.8 million to nine different hospitals in the province on May 19.

The Cabinet's decision was expected to enhance the institutional capacity of the hospitals to provide quality health facilities to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the majority of the hospitals have yet to set up ICU wards even after four months of the decision.

Out of the nine hospitals that were supposed to set up an ICU, only Myagdi Hospital and Gorkha Hospital started the facility aiming to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. A f...