1,809 new cases, 800 beds to be added

The district administration on Monday decided to add 800 additional beds with oxygen support within five days through tie-ups with private medical colleges as the city continues to struggle with a stressed healthcare system in the absence of adequate government facilities

The district administration on Monday decided to add 800 additional beds with oxygen support within five days through tie-ups with private medical colleges as the city continues to struggle with a stressed healthcare system in the absence of adequate government facilities. On Monday, 1,809 new cases were reported, compounding the situation.

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“The state and district administration is handling the bed management on a war scale now. The plan is to make all 800 beds available to people by April 22 evening. Every day, bed capacity will be strengthened to ensure moderate to severely ill Covid-19 patients do not face difficulties in getting beds for treatment,” said TC Gupta, additional chief secretary, mines and geology, employment, and housing, who has been appointed as the Covid-19 officer for Gurugram by the Haryana government.

Currently, almost 2,600 reserved beds for Covid-19 cases have been occupied. As per the data available on the government website, only 128 of 1,873 oxygen beds are vacant across 41 hospitals. Likewise, only nine ICU beds of 527 and three ventilator beds of 237 are available.

According to the health department, more than 50% of beds are occupied by patients from across Delhi-NCR, other parts of Haryana and neighbouring states. Going by the district health bulletin on Monday, as many as 663 patients from Gurugram are undergoing treatment in various private hospitals.

Providing adequate beds for timely treatment has become critical as the district on Monday reported five Covid-19 deaths within 24 hours, taking the toll to 383.

To tackle the situation, Gupta held a meeting with senior officials of government departments that have been allotted Covid-19 duties, such as bed management, testing, tracking home-isolated patients and ambulance fleet management. In the meeting, Gupta announced that 800 beds would be added.

Of the 800, 500 will be added at SGT Medical College in Chandu Budhera, at least 150 beds in World College of Medical Sciences Research and Hospital, Jhajjar, and at least 56 in Medeor Hospital, which is the Covid-19 designated facility for seriously ill patients. At present, the Medeor Hospital has 64 occupants, which is the current maximum capacity.

“There are only limited beds, nearly 95, in government facilities which include Civil Hospital and ESIC Hospital. By tying up with medical colleges, the government Covid-19 bed capacity will dramatically increase in the state to cater to people who cannot afford private hospitals or lack health insurance. It is being ensured that these facilities are provided with enough medical supplies, oxygen support and health staff to handle patients,” said Gupta.

Medeor Hospital, the designated Covid-19 facility, has also been provided with at least 60 paramedic staff, who will be joining this week, by the state administration. “The hospital has also been asked to submit its current requirement of doctors. The state has agreed to provide adequate staff,” said Gupta.

Dr Sanjay Gupta, head, internal medicine and medical superintendent, Medeor Hospital, said, “All 64 beds are occupied. A lot of people have been approaching us, almost double our capacity, to get admitted. These are moderate to severely ill patients who need immediate hospitalisation. The facility will add more beds in the next 48 hours as we have asked the administration to provide us with adequate staff.”

Due to the fast occupancy of beds, the additional chief secretary also stressed updating real time data regarding availability on the government portal (covidggn.com). The portal shows the number of vacant oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds at private and government hospitals.