Ghaziabad adds more hospital beds for Covid patients

Ghaziabad: Amid the latest spike in Covid-19 cases, Ghaziabad has now roped in more beds — by adding four more private hospitals

Ghaziabad: Amid the latest spike in Covid-19 cases, Ghaziabad has now roped in more beds — by adding four more private hospitals. In the private sector, the total beds have now gone up from 970 to 1,080. We have 1,598 beds, including the ones in the government setup, and 44% of the occupied beds are for patients from other districts, said the officials.

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“There is a rise in the occupancy of beds, and we have added four more private hospitals. Following the addition, the number of ICU beds have also gone up from the existing 223 to 278. 125 of the total ICU beds are occupied, and the occupancy is about 44.96%... Several bigger hospitals have a full occupancy of ICU beds... Some of the patients from other districts are at our L3 category Santosh Hospital, while the rest are undergoing treatment in private hospitals,” said a health department officer.

As of Saturday evening, Ghaziabad has 15 private hospitals with 1,080 beds, and two government hospitals with 518 beds till, following the addition of the private hospitals. Officials said that 509 beds were occupied till Saturday evening — including 286 beds occupied by patients from Ghaziabad, and 223 from places Delhi, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Baghpat, and Meerut among others.

Officials of some of the private hospitals said that there was less occupancy for normal beds, and the ICU beds are in more demand.

“We have 100 beds, including 20 ICU beds, in our hospital, and the overall occupancy is about 35-40%. However, the occupancy of 20 ICU beds is 100%, and they are always occupied. People keep calling us to know if the ICU beds are available,” said Deepak Garg, officer in administration department, Gayatri Hospital in Lohia Nagar.

Dr Mahesh Chaudhary, director (operations), Navin Hospital at Vaishali, said, “We have a 100% occupancy of 65 Covid beds. The patients are from Ghaziabad and Delhi. Of the 65 total beds, 16 ICU beds are fully occupied. Besides the common Covid-19 symptoms, this year, patients having symptoms of diarrhoea and conjunctivitis, and suffering from headache are also getting admitted here.”

Ajay Shankar Pandey, Ghaziabad district magistrate, said that many patients have been opting to get themselves admitted to bigger hospitals as they are on panel. “Hospitals in our district are fully equipped to cater to patients from Ghaziabad, and also from other districts. The occupancy is higher for ICU beds, in bigger hospitals too... Otherwise, beds are available in private and government hospitals... We have decided to open our Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in Sahibabad within the next two to three days, as the L2 category facility. If needed, we have more private hospitals that will start operating as Covid-19 facilities,” Pandey said.

Under the Uttar Pradesh government’s three-tier healthcare structure for Covid-19 patients, L2 category hospitals deal with Covid-19 patients with mild and moderate symptoms, while L3 hospitals deal with patients who require intensive care.

Meanwhile, according to the data on Saturday, Ghaziabad reported 28,039 cases, of which 27,241 were discharged. About 103 deaths and 695 active cases were also reported.