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Expert team finds lapses in Covid-19 management in Bengal hospitals
The damaging report comes amid over 5,000 fresh Covid-19 positive cases were being reported in the past 10 days, including 129 new deaths as the toll climbed to 717.
Two expert teams, which were set up by the West Bengal government in June, have found several lapses in the clinical management of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients admitted to various hospitals in the state and submitted a report to that effect to the authorities concerned.
The damaging report comes amid over 5,000 fresh Covid-19 positive cases were being reported in the past 10 days, including 129 new deaths as the toll climbed to 717.
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Bengal has reported 20,488 Covid-19 positive cases until Friday.
“We have sent out three advisories to both state-run and private hospitals in the last five days to adhere to recommendations made by the two expert teams after glaring gaps were pointed out in the treatment of Covid-19 cases,” said a state health department official.
On June 24, the state had set up two Protocol Monitoring Teams (PMTs), each comprising three medical experts. The teams made surprise visits to hospitals, especially those that reported Covid-19 related deaths and went through their treatment records.
Lapses have been found in prescribing oxygen doses and steroids; intensive care unit (ICU) management; and treatment of those Covid-19 patients suffering from comorbid conditions, etc.
“It was found that while doctors have prescribed oxygen for a patient, the dosage was not mentioned. A few hospitals lacked an antibiotic policy. In some hospitals, there were high risks of hospital-acquired Covid-19 infection,” said one of the team members.
Bengal has been grappling with a spike in Covid-19 positive cases and a high toll related to the viral outbreak is being reported almost every second day in the past week.
On Friday, 669 new Covid-19 positive cases were reported and 18 people died – the highest single-day figure on both counts.
Earlier in June, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that a few more lives could have been saved had the private hospitals given better treatment to patients with comorbid conditions.
Data showed that 533 Covid-19 related deaths in the state occurred among patients with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiac disease, and kidney ailments among others.
The state government has directed all 78 dedicated Covid-19 hospitals to set up their own Quick Response Teams (QRTs), which would only attend to critically-ill patients in a bid to bring down the mortality rate from the raging viral infection.
