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Hindu Rao preps up, will need a day or two to start functioning as Covid facility
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
The north Delhi municipal corporation-run Hindu Rao hospital has begun preparations to treat coronavirus patients but authorities at the facility said it may take a day or two more to fully start functioning as a Covid set-up as non-Covid patients were yet to be shifted to other hospitals and logistical support was awaited.
The Delhi government and the north corporation had on Sunday announced their decision to convert the 980-bedded hospital -- one of the largest in north Delhi -- into a dedicated Covid-19 treatment facility from Tuesday.
Senior doctors at the hospital said they might be able to attend Covid-19 patients with mild and moderate symptoms from Tuesday but to treat severe or high-risk patients, they will require logistical support from the government and complete transfer of other patients to other facilities.
Hospital authorities, however, began preparations on Monday, discharging many patients and transferring serious cases to other hospitals, sanitising the building and installing thermal scanners, etc.
Family members of a few patients complained of hardships in taking their relatives home or to other hospitals.
“My father was admitted in the hospital on June 6. He is suffering from pneumonia. Today, the doctors discharged him and asked us to take him home. He is not able to walk. We are not sure if he is okay, so we will take him to another hospital. They should have told us in advance,” Pawan Pawar, a resident of Ashok Vihar said.
A senior functionary at the hospital said on anonymity, “We discharged patients not requiring hospital intervention. Those with life-threatening condition are being shifted to other corporation hospitals. The process of transferring patients is on. We still have patients in the medicine, gynaecology and paediatric departments. We can’t properly start Covid-19 treatment unless all patients are shifted. Otherwise, a chance of virus spreading among non-Covid patients will always remain. We might be fully functioning as a Covid-19 hospital by June 18 (Thursday).”
Some patients are seriously ill and on ventilators, and so it will take a day or two to shift them, the official said. About 209 patients in different departments were being shifted to Kasturba, Rajan Babu and Giridharilal hospitals.
Hindu Rao has 17 ventilators, eight intensive care unit (ICU) beds and four high dependency units (a notch down from ICUs). As many as 250 beds have oxygen support, the civic body said.
Delhi government’s health secretary Vikram Dev Dutt had on Sunday declared Hindu Rao as a dedicated Covid-19 facility and directed the medical superintendent to start admitting Covid-19 patients from Tuesday (June 16).
The hospital and municipal authorities had conducted an internal meeting to check preparations for converting the hospital into a Covid-19 facility.
A second hospital functionary said more logistical support would be required and for better care of Covid-19 patients.“We will need more PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and ventilators. Two separate ICUs will be formed for coronavirus positive and suspected patients, respectively. At present, we have a limited number of PPE kits. We are seeking more logistical support from the state government,” the official said.
On Sunday, Union home minister Amit Shah held a meeting with lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the three mayors of the north, east and south Delhi municipal corporations to assess the Covid-19 situation and chalk out a strategy to augment bed strength.
Representatives of the three municipalities had offered to use their hospital infrastructure along with community centres and sports stadiums and complexes as Covid facilities.
North corporation officials said infrastructure, equipment and other requirement as per protocols were in the process of being upgraded and procured. “Thermal scanners, PPE kits, N-95 masks and other safety equipment and ventilators, pulse oximeter among other tools are being procured. The hospital premises is being sanitised. A combined pool of doctors and other health care workers is being created for posting in different areas,” north corporation spokesperson Ira Singhal said.
