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Delhi: For some patients, wait for ICU bed is long and agonising
As of Tuesday, at least 5,400 people suffering from Covid had been admitted to various Delhi hospitals — the highest since the third week of June when the city had 6,200 hospitalised Covid patients.
Twenty nine-year-old Pravesh Malik had rushed 25km from Rohini to near Delhi Gate, to get his Covid-19 positive father admitted at Lok Nayak hospital.
When Pravesh’s father, Dharamvir, had tested positive for the infection on Monday, the doctor at the government testing centre had advised that he be admitted to a hospital at earliest because of his existing heart condition.
“We went to nearby Saroj hospital, where we were told that in case his condition deteriorates, they will not be able to manage him. Their ICUs were full and they asked me to shift him to a bigger hospital,” said Pravesh.
However, when he checked the ‘Delhi Corona’ app,the ICU beds at all big hospitals near his house were occupied. “As he was already on oxygen support, I decided not to take any chances and rushed him to Delhi government’s Lok Nayak hospital in an ambulance. The only reason I travelled so far with him is because there were no beds available at hospitals near my house,” he said.
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The Maliks were one of several hundred residents who have in the past few weeks sought hospitalisation, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the city sees a major upsurge.
As of Tuesday, at least 5,400 people suffering from Covid had been admitted to various Delhi hospitals — the highest since the third week of June when the city had 6,200 hospitalised Covid patients.
Even though more than 8,600 beds earmarked for the treatment of Covid-19 remained vacant in the city (on Tuesday), the ICUs in the large multi speciality private hospitals have started running full.
Ashwini Sharma, a businessman from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh brought his 52-year-old uncle, who had tested positive for Covid-19 back home and was running a high temperature, to Delhi’s Max hospital in Saket on Tuesday afternoon. After almost 40 minutes of waiting, they were told that beds were not available at the hospital.
“The oxygen levels of my uncle had been dropping since last night. A private hospital in Gwalior suggested that we go to Delhi for treatment. Once here, we were told that there is a waiting of 3-4 days. Now we will try Max hospital in Vaishali. However, the ambulance staff has told me that they are running out of oxygen and it would take at least an hour to reach Vaishali in Ghaziabad. I just hope we make it in time,” said a worried looking Sharma, as his uncle lay in the ambulance.
A medical support staff at Max, Saket, who did not wish to be named, said over the past few days, the number of admissions had gone up. “The bed occupancy at our dedicated Covid-19 facilities is running full,” said Max hospital in a statement.
Also read: Top private hospitals fast running out of ICU beds for Covid care in Delhi
Chetan Gupta, 32, from Haryana’s Rewari, who too had come to Max, Saket, said his father used to come for dialysis at the hospital thrice a week and last Saturday tested positive for the virus. “He is a critical care patient. We had to wait for almost 12 hours to get a bed in the hospital. We had reached the hospital at 10am on Saturday and it was only by 9pm that he finally managed to get a bed, after we made several calls. We couldn’t have taken him anywhere else, as his dialysis was being done here ,” said Gupta.
At AIIMS too, the Covid screening facility had a queue of ambulances with patients being tested before admission. A medical staff at the facility said that the number of Covid patients coming in for ICU and ventilator support beds had witnessed a sharp rise in the last few weeks. “The workload has increased again with more critical care patients are pouring in. Since morning at least four cases had come that required ICU beds,” he said.
