E-Paper
Govt may have to shut local health centres to arrange staff for Covid hospitals
To deal with rising Covid-19 cases in the district, the Ghaziabad health department has decided to open a 200-bed L1 category Covid hospital (for non-critical positive
To deal with rising Covid-19 cases in the district, the Ghaziabad health department has decided to open a 200-bed L1 category Covid hospital (for non-critical positive cases) for which they will need to rope in medical teams from the health centres at Muradnagar, Modingar and Bhojpur areas.
The officials said in the future, if more Covid-dedicated facilities are opened, then they will have to shut down the urban health centres as well in order to find medical personnel to man the new hospitals.
Under the three-tier dedicated health care facilities to deal with Covid-19 cases, the Uttar Pradesh government has identified different health centres under L1, L2 and L3 levels with L1 catering to non-critical Covid-19 patients, while L2 and L3 will deal with more complicated and critical cases.
The 200-bed facility is proposed to be opened at Divyjtoti College in Niwari and will cater to L1 category patients (non-critical). Currently, the health department has a 76-bed L1 ESI Hospital and a 60-bed L1 facility at Mariam Hospital in Nandgram.
“Divyajyoti hospital will become operational in another one or two days and we will deploy teams from the community health centres (CHCs) at Muradnagar, Modinagar besides a team from the primary health (PHC) centre in Bhojpur. This diversion of staff will pose issues with regard to the treatment of non-Covid patients at the CHCs and PHC. The staff members of CHC Dasna are presently deployed to look after the operations at Mariam Hospital,” Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, Ghaziabad, said.
The health department has proposed a total of about 4,000 Covid beds in the district, on the directions of the state government. The officials said each team deployed at a L1 hospital will have 25 members, while a team deployed at a L2 hospital will have 53 members.
“If we open other Covid facilities and draw staff from our urban health centres or dispensaries. This will again affect non-Covid patient care at dispensaries. Both L1 hospitals that are presently operational are almost full,” the CMO said.
In all, officials said that they can cater to about 900 to 1,000 Covid patients with the available staff, but at the cost of treatment given to non-Covid patients at CHCs and PHCs.
Apart from the government Covid facilties, officials said they have also given an authorisation to two private hospitals, one in Vaishali and the other in Vasundhara, to operate as paid Covid facilities.
The Ghaziabad district, till June 10, has recorded a total of 541 Covid-19 cases with 342 persons being discharged from different hospitals after treatment. The number of active cases is 182, and the death toll 17. Of the 14 patients found positive on Wednesday, three cases are from Loni while one each was reported from Vasundhara, Indirapuram and Khoda besides other cases in different areas.
The officials are also worried about increase in number of cases related to severe acute respiratory infections (SARI). The officials said to deal with SARI cases, which can also prove fatal when manifested with Covid-19, they have come up with a 30-bed ward at MMG Hospital for SARI cases. The CMO said SARI cases have increased from 5% at the end of May to 10% this week, which is cause for concern.
“Since the cases of SARI are on the rise, we have come up with a special ward at the MMG hospital to treat such patients. The patients will be the ones who are identified during surveillance in different areas or even those who come for availing of treatment at government hospitals,” Dr Anurag Bhargava, chief medical superintendent of MMG Hospital, said.
