City well prepared to handle surge of covid cases, assure health officials

As a part of the nation-wide drill conducted on the behest of the union health ministry, the facilities at SevenHills Hospital and JJ Group of Hospitals were assessed on Tuesday. The hospitals, where the drills to assess city’s covid preparedness were carried out, used dummy patients

Mumbai Sanjay Bohat, a daily wage labourer was working at a construction site in Andheri east, when he was approached by some social workers associated with SevenHills Hospital, Marol, on Tuesday morning. They inquired about his health, and when he said he had been coughing for several days, they took him to the hospital. He had no idea that he would be put through a rigorous process with the doctors testing him for the presence of any infection, especially Covid-19.

Mumbai, India – Dec 27, 2022: Health workers during a mock drill for COVID-19 preparedness, at St George Hospital, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Dec 27, 2022. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

Bohat also had no idea that he was among the “mock patients” taking part in a drill to assess hospital’s Covid-19 preparedness. Other patients included some class IV workers of the hospital who were also suffering from respiratory illness.

At Byculla’s JJ Hospital, the doctors donned in personal protection equipment tested out the smart OPD that allows doctors to conduct contact-less screening and testing of Covid-19 patients. The entire sequence of events that is followed when a patient comes into the facility, up to them being taken to the isolation ward or the ICU was also recreated on a mock patient.

As a part of the nation-wide drill conducted on the behest of the union health ministry, the facilities at SevenHills Hospital and JJ Group of Hospitals were assessed on Tuesday. The hospitals, where the drills to assess city’s covid preparedness were carried out, used dummy patients to create extreme scenarios like multiple admission at once, handling pressure difference or leakages in oxygen cylinders and working of all the equipment.

Similar operations were conducted in major hospitals all across the state, said state surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate. He said that for his department, it was more of an online drill as they were taking stock of the manpower and machinery available in all cities. “We are collating the information on a government portal from across the state. This will help us decide the future course of action depending on what we find,” he said.

Dr Rewat Kaninde, resident medical officer of JJ Hospital said that the exercise was a confidence building measure that made the staff believe that they are ready to handle a surge of the disease if it happens. “Our departments like pulmonary medicine, surgery, anesthesia, critical care were using the equipment that might be required for the patients in the interim. The staff is well trained in using them,” he said. The hospital, he added, has 1352 beds equipped with centralised oxygen supply.

Officer on special duty at the SevenHills Hospital Dr Maharudra Kumbhar said the entire admission process and following all the SOPs that have been perfected over the last two years. “We are also testing the number of human resources required in extreme conditions like oxygen leakage, equipment malfunctioning, multiple patients being brought to the ICU at once. We also tested the working status of all infrastructure like oxygen pipelines, bipap machines and ventilators,” he said. The drill enabled the staff to revise the protocols and be trained on how to respond in dire situations, he said.

“610 government hospitals, 628 private hospitals, 28 government medical colleges and 27 private medical colleges conducted the mock drill today,” said Dr Pradip Awate, state survelliance officer.

Additional municipal commissioner Dr Sanjeev Kumar said that the health officials are doubly assured now that there is adequate preparation on their end. “We are well prepared whether it is in terms of infrastructure, manpower or machinery. The one thing that we are lagging behind and need to focus on now is the coverage of the booster dose of covid vaccine in Mumbai being very little at 16%,” he said.

In the backdrop of Covid-19’s global scenario, screening of international passengers arriving at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports began from 24th Dec 2022. The state health department said since December 24, 44,666 passengers have arrived at these these airports and out of the 703 passengers whose RT-PCR was done, two were found to be positive for Covid and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing.