E-Paper
Mohali admn gears up to manage patient load amid Covid surge
The number of active cases has shot up from 636 on March 1 to 1,442 on March 16 and recovery rate has dropped from 95% to 91.7% in the same period
With Mohali district recording 1,903 Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths due to the virus this month, the administration is making preparations to manage the increased load of patients.
Just 16 days into March, the district has seen a spike of 125% in cases and 10% in death toll, when compared to 840 cases and 20 deaths recorded in February. The number of active cases has shot up from 636 on March 1 to 1,442 on March 16 and recovery rate has dropped from 95% to 91.7% in the same period.
As Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur — the designated Covid facility during the first surge in September, when more than 6,000 cases surfaced — has ended its contract with the state government, the administration has now made arrangements for 100 beds at Chandigarh University, Gharuan, and 10 beds at the de-addiction centre in Sector 66 for Level-1 (L-1) category patients.
Facilities under L-1 category deal with uncomplicated cases. Patients are generally asymptomatic and can roam around in the ward. Cases that require more attention, wherein patients are generally bedridden and are put on drip or need oxygen support, are sent to L-2 category hospitals, whereas critical patients are shifted for specialised treatment to hospitals with L-3 facilities.
Additional deputy commissioner Aashika Jain said: “We held a meeting with representatives of all the leading hospitals in the district and directed them to ramp up their L-2 and L-3 bed capacity and postpone elective surgeries as far as possible to dedicate requisite resources towards the treatment of Covid patients.”
Hospital administrations have also been told to update the health status of critical patients daily so that all available resources may be pooled to contain the case fatality rate, she said. It stands at 1.8%.
Jain said district and subdivisional government hospitals and community health centres have been directed to create room for L-2 patients. As far as L-3 facilities are concerned, most private hospitals in Mohali have five to six beds, but all are occupied.
The district administration will also rope in medical staff, including doctors and paramedical staff, on contractual terms as per the norms. Last time, 14 such medical professionals joined on contract, which ended in November last year.
100+ cases for seventh day
Meanwhile, the district reported 100+ cases for seventh consecutive day on Tuesday, with 192 people testing positive. The peak was reached on Sunday with 206 cases. Meanwhile, four patients died, taking the toll to 407.
Mohali city continued to report bulk of the cases, with 178 on Tuesday. The district’s total stands at 22,218. With 83 patients being discharged, the number of those cured reached 20,368.
As many as 27,319 people have been vaccinated so far, including 12,119 senior citizens, 1,904 in the comorbid group, 7,284 healthcare workers and 6,012 frontline workers. The second dose has been administered to 4,579 people. The drive is being carried out at 27 private hospitals and seven government hospitals in the district.
