E-Paper
All beds occupied at Mohali’s lone government Covid facility
No ICU bed available at private hospitals in the district too, while only 15 oxygen beds remain vacant on Thursday evening
A week after the Punjab health department declared the civil hospital in Phase 6, Mohali, a dedicated Covid-19 facility, not a single bed was available there on Thursday evening.
While there is no ICU facility at this government hospital, the number of oxygen beds were upgraded from 60 to 120 recently. Filled to capacity, it was attending to 124 patients on Thursday.
Meanwhile, all 336 ICU beds with ventilators were occupied at private hospitals in the district, and only 15 of the 565 oxygen beds were available.
The second wave is witnessing more complications among patients, with a large proportion needing critical care or oxygen support. As many as 62 people have succumbed to the virus in just six days this month, while 159 died in April. The number of active cases stands at 8,910.
There are around 30 big private hospitals in the district, which has emerged as a medical tourism hub, but all are finding it difficult to meet the surge as patients are pouring in from other parts of the region as well.
While there are nine government facilities in the district, only the civil hospital in Phase 6 is attending to Covid-19 patients, and that too only those needing oxygen support. Critical cases are being referred to Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, which too is saturated.
Dr Adarshpal Kaur, civil surgeon, Mohali, said: “All the beds are occupied in the civil hospital, but we are making arrangements in some other government hospitals. Meantime, the army is also coming up with a 100-bed hospital at the civil hospital campus.”
Gurtej Singh, chairman of Ivy Healthcare Group, said: “Whatever beds we created for Covid patients have been occupied. However, we are striving hard to create additional capacity and are investing in requisite infrastructure depending upon the availability of oxygen.”
Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said: “Though beds are occupied in most of the hospitals in the district, we are making arrangements for more beds for patients requiring oxygen and ventilator.”
