Private hospitals note increased severity, longer ICU stays for newer Covid patients
New Delhi: As the Capital is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, private hospitals have said that they are dealing with patients who have symptoms more severe than seen earlier, while many are admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for longer durations.
Speaking about what is being defined as the 'second wave' by medical experts, Dr Aashish Chaudhary, Managing Director and Head of the Department Orthopedic at Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital said the biggest challenge with this surge is that patients are coming in sicker. "I say it in the sense that there are more ICU admissions and the treatment, which was provided to patients in the initial surge, is not as effective as it was earlier," he said, adding that they are seeing many younger patients succumbing to COVID-19 this time around.
"If we talk about the first peak, on average, we used to have a patient staying in the ICU for not more than 4 to 5 days. Now, the patients are not being moved out of the ICU for days. So, there is a backlog of patients, which is higher and the turnover is increasing. And since the numbers are increasing, the waiting time is more for new admissions," Dr Chaudhary added.
He also said that the specialities of hospital are getting overwhelmed and "we are seeing very less response to plasma and other newer injections."
Echoing the same sentiments, Dr Vikas Maurya, Director and Head of Department, Pulmonology at Fortis Hospital spoke about the surge in patients and said, "Plus patients who should not be in home isolation are also not coming to the hospitals. They are using oxygen at home, but there are measurements and ways that cannot be managed at home." This is leading to patients getting serious with time.
Dr Prashant Vashistha, Head of Medical Services, HCMCT Manipal Hospitals, meanwhile said, "Compared to the situation some time back where we used to get one to five new admissions per day now it has increased to over ten to fifteen admissions per day," he added.
Even though the Covid beds have increased, hospitals are witnessing a full occupancy in Covid wards. "There are on average 8 to 10 patients waiting to get a bed, which never happened in the first peak and most patients that
time were mild. The number of mild patients this time has decreased no doubt, but hospital admissions are increasing," Dr Chaudhary said.
However, Dr Pankaj Solanki Medical Director at Dharamveer Solanki Nursing Home in Rohini said that he is having a major crisis with respect to oxygen supply. "I am being told that the supply comes from outside Delhi and there are manufacturing issues there. I am managing oxygen supply by borrowing it from my friends who have their own hospitals," he added.
