As cases surge, doctors say hosps better equipped to handle situation
New Delhi: While the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the Capital has sent alarm bells ringing in government offices; hospitals in the city have said they are largely better equipped than before to deal with a worsening situation, if one may arrive. Even though government hospitals in Delhi are fast filling up once again, private hospitals and nursing homes are still showing vacancies for COVID-19 patients.
Speaking to Millennium Post, Dr Avi Kumar, Senior Consultant Pulmonology at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute said that hospitals are prepared and more streamlined to handle the new wave of COVID patients. "In the initial days, things were not streamlined, either in the form of
hospital infrastructure,
beds or treatment, but now the infrastructure is streamlined so that we can take better care of the patients. Now we can give treatments like plasma therapy and other requirements," he said.
Dr Kumar also said that most of the patients who have been admitted are more in need of oxygen than ventilator support. "The requirement of ventilation is less as compared to the oxygen. Most of the patients require oxygen," he said, adding that there are about 15 COVID-19 ventilator beds at the hospital, most of which are available.
The highest number of ICU beds with ventilators allocated for Covid patients are at Max Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram. While Sir Ganga Ram shows a total of 10 ventilator ICU beds for COVID-19 patients available, Max Saket has no ICU ventilator beds available for Coronavirus patients.
Delhi has seen a surge in the number of cases in the last few days. "The opening up of malls and restaurants could be one reason for such a surge. I am not saying, we should shut everything, but people need to be responsible and the authorities should still make sure that rules are followed," a senior doctor from AIIMS said. There is a fine of Rs 500 for not wearing a mask in Delhi.
"In the last ten days, there is an increase in the number of cases in Delhi, one reason is the opening up of the city. With the metro opening up, this could be the second wave that we had been talking about," added Dr Kumar.
Meanwhile, a total of 93 hospitals, which includes 79 private and 14 government have around 1,216 ICU beds with ventilator support, out of which 526 are occupied and 690 are vacant as of Wednesday evening.
Dr Ravi Shekhar Jha, Head of Department, Pulmonology at Fortis Hospital meanwhile said that opening the metro can also create a grave situation. "Opening the metro is not a good decision, considering the cases are on the rise. We have also seen the highest peak in the last few days. All these are fresh cases," he added.
