53% of Covid-19 patients in city hospitals from outside Gurugram

Over half of the 327 Covid-19 patients in Gurugram’s hospitals are those who are residents outside the district.

Over half of the 327 Covid-19 patients in Gurugram’s hospitals are those who are residents outside the district.

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Out of the 40 hospitals, where more than 1486 beds have been reserved for Covid-19 treatment, there are 173 coronavirus patients from outside the district.

Data from hospitals on Thursday showed that 76 were from Delhi, 42 from Uttar Pradesh, 33 from other parts of the country, 21 from other districts of Haryana and one foreign national -- together making 53% of Gurugram’s hospitalisations. The list, officials said, is incomplete as some hospitals were yet to provide information.

The district health department on Friday confirmed 130 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total count of the persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus in Gurugram to 5,699. Out of these, 1,178 are active cases, while 4,425 people have recovered. The number of fatalities due to Covid-19 stood at 96 with 60 deaths being attributed to co-morbidity issues.

Union home minister Amit Shah in a meeting with the chief ministers of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday had advised the states to coordinate their response to the Covid-19 outbreak by focusing on timely hospital access. Earlier, Shah said that the Delhi-NCR has to be considered as one unit for the Covid-19 management. Four major cities – Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram – together have over 100,000 cases.

In Gurugram, the district administration had directed at least 40 hospitals to reserve 25% of their total bed capacity for patients infected with Sars-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19. The city has 4000 hospital beds, out of which 1486 beds are for Covid-19 patients. Out of the total available beds, 130 beds are allocated in three government hospitals -- All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Jhajjar (50 beds), ESIC Hospital in sector 9 (58) and Polyclinic in sector 31 (22).

“There are 679 Intensive Care Units (ICU) beds and 327 ventilators, out of which 192 ICU beds and 92 beds with ventilators are reserved to manage Covid-19 cases in the city,” said Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, on Friday while addressing the media. “Utilisation of beds for Covid-19 is a dynamic process. The district has enough availability of beds, more than to treat patients,” he said.

Vivek Kalia, nodal officer for Covid-19 hospital management, said, “Post analysing the data being received from the hospitals, we can surely say that substantial Covid positives are preferring home isolation. Besides, more than 50% of the patients presently hospitalised in Gurugram hospitals are from out of district which clearly reflects faith people have in the city’s medical facilities.” Of the 1178 active cases in the city, 797 patients are in home isolation, 53 in district Covid care centres and 328 in isolation facilities and hospitals.

Kalia said, “There should be no suspicion, apprehension and fear among residents about bed availability and district’s preparedness to tackle the Covid-19 situation.”

Gurugram is one of the first few cities to treat initial Covid-19 patients, including 14 Italian tourists who were detected to be positive with coronavirus in March and were admitted in Medanta Medicity. Patients from other parts of the city were also admitted in other big hospitals.

A senior state official privy to the matter, said, “Patients coming to Gurugram for treatment is not a matter of concern as we have enough beds available for the treatment. In case, there is a surge in the number of critical care patients, the issue will be taken up by officials in the state and central government.”

Amit Sharma, founder and CEO of eExpedise Healthcare, Gurugram-based company that is involved in medical tourism, said that in the last decade the city had emerged as an important destination for domestic and International patients. “The city has quality care. Due to high spending capacity, people want that quality treatment. Therefore, many of the private hospitals offer five-star care this means they offer luxury rooms, preferential diet, and personalised care.”