Kathmandu: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that medical colleges, large government and private hospitals in the Valley will be operated as COVID-19 hospitals.

In his address to the nation Monday afternoon, PM Oli said the government entrusted the Nepal Army (NA) to build a 1,000-bed temporary hospital in every province and the capital. He added the new building of Bir Hospital and NA’s Tri-Chandra Military Hospital would also operate as Covid hospitals.

The PM said the government had intensified efforts to construct basic hospitals with 5 to 15 beds capacity at all local levels and infectious hospitals at the provinces and center.

He said provincial governments would also operate medical colleges and large hospitals in the provinces as Covid hospitals and small hospitals would operate as non-covid hospitals.

The PM assured that all kinds of large public and community venues, including stadiums, meeting halls, party palaces, hotels, factories, other structures would be temporarily transformed into well-equipped quarantine, isolation center and holding center to tackle the second wave of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the PM also warned of action against those hospitals that will be found involved in hiding or not making beds available to Covid patients. He urged hospitals to earnestly report number of beds available in them.