As the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases continue to rise at a rapid pace in Ghaziabad, the district health department is now shifting its focus to opening bigger L1 category Covid hospitals.
Till June 22, the district had 958 Covid-19, out of which 653 cases were reported since June 1 alone. District health officials expect the tally to cross 1,200 by June-end at this pace.
Officials said as around 75-80%of Covid-19 patients are asymptomatic and given the workforce shortage, the health department needs bigger L1 facilities where more patients with no symptoms can be looked after by the same number of doctors and health care workers that are deployed at smaller L1 Covid hospitals.
The district has already identified 13 educational institutes which will be converted into L1 facilities in phases as and when the need arises to accommodate new patients.
To treat asymptomatic Covid-19 patients, the district currently relies heavily on the 76-bedded L1 category ESIC Hospital at Sahibabad and another 60-bedded L1 facility (government acquired St Joesph’s Hospital) in Nandgram . Besides this, the district has a 100-bedded L2 Covid facility in Sanjay Nagar (District Combined Hospital) and another 400-bedded L3 category facility near the Old Bus Stand (government acquired Santosh Medical College). Under the Uttar Pradesh government’s three-tier health care structure, the L1 hospitals are meant for treating asymptomatic patients, while L2 hospitals cater to patients with moderate complications and the L3 hospitals treat critical cases.
“We are now focussing on starting bigger L1 hospitals which have a capacity of around 200-400 beds. This is because 75-80% of the Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic and need to be taken to L1 Covid hospitals as per the present norms. Unlike Delhi, we don’t have any guidelines which allow home isolation for asymptomatic patients. As a result, with the rising numbers of cases, we are forced to shift our asymptomatic patients from L1 facilities to L2 and L3 hospitals. So, now our strategy is to come up with bigger L1 hospitals and not open smaller ones,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer (CMO). The district has 376 active cases currently.
{{/usCountry}}“We are now focussing on starting bigger L1 hospitals which have a capacity of around 200-400 beds. This is because 75-80% of the Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic and need to be taken to L1 Covid hospitals as per the present norms. Unlike Delhi, we don’t have any guidelines which allow home isolation for asymptomatic patients. As a result, with the rising numbers of cases, we are forced to shift our asymptomatic patients from L1 facilities to L2 and L3 hospitals. So, now our strategy is to come up with bigger L1 hospitals and not open smaller ones,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer (CMO). The district has 376 active cases currently.
{{/usCountry}}Each team of 25 doctors, nurses, and other health care workers deployed at smaller L1 hospitals currently, has the capacity to cater to patients at a 200-bedded L1 hospitals, health officials said.
“With the pace at which new cases are being reported, we are likely to open a 200-bedded L1 Covid facility at Divya Jyoti Ayurvedic Medical College & Hospital in Niwari in the next two or three days. This hospital will be able to accommodate new cases for about 15-20 days. As cases will continue to rise, we will also open another L1 facility in Modinagar at the SRM University campus which has 400 beds out of which 100 beds are already ready for Covid patients. After this we will open a 250-bedded l1 facility in a private college in Dasna),” the CMO said.
The officials said with the available workforce, they can cater to nearly 1,426 beds in different category hospitals, of which doctors can nearly manage over 926 beds in L1 facilities. The officials said that they have submitted these figures to the UP government-appointed nodal officers who had recently visited Ghaziabad during a week long-tour to assess the pandemic situation and the infrastructure available to deal with rising cases.
“Once we have 1,426 beds occupied with Covid patients, our workforce will be exhausted and to cater to more infected persons we will need to shut down primary and community health centres, government health care facilities to make up for the lack of doctors, nurses. This is not a practical option, but even if it comes to that, we will be able to cater to a maximum of 2,000 occupied beds”, the CMO said.
Officials said if all the 13 educational institutes are converted into L1 facilities, they will have a total capacity of 4,000 beds, and the district health departments will need help from other UP districts with a lower caseload to look after at the patients when these facilities reach full capacity.
“We will continue using the L1 facility at Sahibabad as the ESIC hospital (a central government-run entity) has deployed their own staff. We are, however, likely to shut the L1 facility at Nandgram in the next 10-15 days or so. The hospital management had approached us recently to allow them to resume normal operations there, Dr Gupta said.
Earlier in May, a 30-bedded L1 facility in a community health centre in Muradnagar was shut down, and its health team will be now be deployed at the upcoming facility in Niwari.
In another development, the health department has received the estimates of the charges that would be applicable in a private hospital in Vaishali which was among five private facilities in Ghaziabad authorised to give Covid treatment.
The hospital will charge ₹7,500 for a private room, ₹ 7,000 for a semi-private room, ₹ 6,200 for general ward, ₹10,000 for ICU and ₹ 6000 for isolation. “The rates are on per day basis for a hospital in Vaishali and it is according to their regular charges and they haven’t hiked their prices. The patient will pay for consumables. We have three more hospitals that will soon come up with separate Covid-19 wards in Kaushambi (50 beds), Nehru Nagar (30 beds) and Vasundhara (30 beds). The list of charges from them will be received shortly,” the CMO said.