24 dead in 24 hours; NMCH is a Covid hospital again

Hospital beds for patients with coronavirus continued to fall short, as did oxygen in some private clinics, as Bihar reported 6,133 new cases, the highest in a day so far, with 24 deaths during the last 24 hours on Thursday

Hospital beds for patients with coronavirus continued to fall short, as did oxygen in some private clinics, as Bihar reported 6,133 new cases, the highest in a day so far, with 24 deaths during the last 24 hours on Thursday.

HT Image

State capital Patna, the worst affected, with a cumulative death toll of 486 and case load of 66,913 out of Bihar’s 3.01 lakh cases and 1,675 deaths so far, breached all previous records, when it reported 2,105 cases, the highest in a day so far. Patna contributed to 10,068 active cases in Bihar’s 29,078 on Thursday.

All 50 beds, which the AIIMS-Patna increased during the day, were filled up in a couple of hours. The AIIMS had now increased its bed capacity to 200, with the state government pushing it to scale it up to 250.

Similarly, the 50 ICU beds, which were made operational at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) were also filled up in quick time.

Meanwhile, the state government had decided to convert its 750-bed Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) in Patna into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital. It was declared a Covid-19 dedicated hospital, along with AIIMS-Patna, last year too.

“We have decided to convert the NMCH into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital,” said state health minister Mangal Pandey.

He said the IGIMS would add another 100 beds for COvid-19 patients in the next three days.

Pandey had also instructed the department’s principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit to ensure that there was no shortage of oxygen, amid reports of shortage of oxygen at some private nursing homes and clinics. Amrit held discussions with the industries department in this connection.

Some private facilities like Sai Hospital and Satyabrat Hospital at Kankerbagh locality in Patna reported of shortage of oxygen on Wednesday. Sources said the crisis had arisen as one of the three suppliers in Patna had shut its unit for two days due to maintenance.

Meanwhile, Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh, who held a meeting with oxygen suppliers and hospital representatives, had instructed suppliers to make available 90% of their supply to hospitals. He asked the three suppliers — Usha Air Products Ltd, Bypass Road Sipara; Patliputra Industrial Gases Private Limited, Sabalpur, Deedarganj; and Banshi Air Gas Private Ltd at Fatuha — to ensure regular supply of oxygen so that there was no scarcity.

Singh also advised all hospitals and nursing homes not to hoard any oxygen cylinder and take them as per their daily requirement to ensure seamless supply as its demand had peaked with a spike in Covid-19 cases in the last couple of days.

He also deputed a magistrate at each of the three supply centres to monitor supply to hospitals and ensure there was no hoarding and blackmarketing.

The district administration had also sealed a private engineering coaching institute at Kankerbagh, which was functioning despite government’s instructions to keep them closed and was also not conforming to Covid-19 norms. Around 200 students were crammed in two rooms when the raiding party visited the institute on Thursday.