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Ludhiana: Staff crunch at civil hospital flagged during mock drill to assess Covid preparedness
To take stock of Covid preparedness amid the ongoing rise in infections in some parts of the world, a mock drill was conducted at the Ludhiana civil hospital on Tuesday
To take stock of Covid preparedness amid the ongoing rise in infections in some parts of the world, a mock drill was conducted at the Ludhiana civil hospital on Tuesday. The exercise was led by civil surgeon Dr Hitinder Kaur and she was accompanied by a team of doctors including deputy medical commissioner Dr Ramandeep Kaur.
The civil surgeon visited the isolation ward and pointed out some areas that needed improvement. She also toured the RT-PCR laboratory at the hospital, which is not currently operational.
During the inspection, Dr Kaur raised concern over staff crunch at the civil hospital. “We have already told higher authorities about shortage of doctors, nursing, and other medical staff at the civil hospital. The department has also held walk-in interviews to recruit new doctors,” the civil surgeon said.
Senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Amarjit Kaur, said, “Our 16-bed intensive care unit (ICU) and isolation ward are fully ready. We are ready to deal with any emergency. There are sufficient ventilators in working condition.”
“There are 33 beds with ventilator facility at the civil hospital. At the adult ICU, there are 16 beds with ventilator facilities, eight at the Child ICU and nine at the paediatric ICU. We also have adequate PPE kits, masks, oxygen cylinders, medicines etc,” said the SMO.
The team also checked the two oxygen plants at the civil hospital. SMO Dr Harinder Sood said, “We have two oxygen plants with 700 litres per minute (LPM) and 1,000 LPM capacity, respectively. We can provide oxygen to beds through a pipe system and we also have 593 oxygen cylinders and 585 oxygen concentrators.”
The civil surgeon has also asked officials to ramp up Covid testing in the district. As per directions from the Punjab health department, Ludhiana district has to collect 1,250 samples daily, including 900 RT-PCR and 350 rapid antigen tests.
On Tuesday, the civil hospital collected 742 samples, including 339 RT-PCR and 403 rapid antigen. The testing is very low at the civil hospital since November and is only conducting rapid antigen testing.
The RT-PCR lab was expected to start in June, but has yet to become operational. Earlier, Covid samples were sent to Patiala, but now, it has been discontinued due to a staff crunch. Civil surgeon Dr. Hitinder Kaur said,” The lab will be functional within a week.”
3 Ludhiana residents test +ve at Delhi Airport
Meanwhile, three Ludhiana residents tested positive for the virus at the Delhi Airport on Tuesday, health department officials said. Also, a person who is not from Ludhiana tested positive before surgery at a Khanna hospital.
The district had logged no fresh Covid cases in the past week.
