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Lucknow hospitals asked to reserve few beds for Covid patients
Experts said that this system will help patients get immediate treatment and also keep the burden upon hospitals low.
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All hospitals in the state capital have been asked to keep a few beds marked for Covid-19 patients.
In a meeting of both private sector and government hospitals held on Thursday, chief medical officer, Lucknow, Dr Manoj Agrawal, reviewed preparations at hospitals.
Unlike the first, second and third waves, when hospitals needed to make 20 to 50-bed Covid-19 wards, this time they have been asked to mark a few beds for Covid-19 patients, in keeping with their total bed capacity, said a senior health official. This way, the state capital will soon have over 900-beds for Covid-19 patients that may be used immediately, if needed.
“So, if a hospital has 50 beds, they may keep five beds aside for patients who may come for some other treatment but test positive for Covid-19 and need hospitalisation,” said Dr Agrawal.
The state capital has over 400 hospitals. Covid-19 patients who test positive at home or in the OPD will still have a choice to get admitted via the Covid command centre.
Experts said that this system will help patients get immediate treatment and also keep the burden upon hospitals low. “Since less than one percent of active cases need hospitalisation at present, hence allotting 5 or 10 beds will ensure that if a patient tests positive for Covid-19 they get immediate treatment without having to rush for referral and admission,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary-general, Association of International Doctors.
This system has been introduced apart from the existing Covid facilities such as those at King George’s Medical University. The state capital has reported over 2.97 lakh Covid-19 cases till now and at present over 400 active cases are under treatment, among which 10 are admitted to hospitals.
Also, the hospitals and private medical colleges have been asked to prepare themselves as they may be asked to make bigger Covid-19 wards at a short notice of 3 or 5 days, depending upon need.
