By Sumit Saxena
New Delhi, Jun 13 (IANS): The Delhi government has received flak from the Supreme Court, which termed the citys patient care as ‘deplorable and ‘pathetic, as patients suffering from Covid-19 are running from pillar to post to get admission to the hospitals, whereas large numbers of beds are lying vacant in the government-run hospitals.
Out of total 9,708 Covid-19 beds in the city, 5,448 have been occupied, mostly in private hospitals, and 4,660 are vacant, majority in government-run hospitals. The city hospitals have a total 605 ventilators, out of which 353 are occupied, majority in the private hospitals, and 252 are vacant, majority in the government hospitals.
"In the backdrop of the Supreme Court order, the Delhi government should call an all inclusive meeting, including representatives of private hospitals. It is extremely important to think why the Supreme Court had to intervene in the ongoing health crisis. The wisdom of doctors to prescribe for Covid-19 test was taken away, which led to mismanagement," said Rajan Sharma, President, Indian Medical Association (IMA).
Delhi is witnessing accelerated growth in cases every day, where earlier a thousand cases in a day were the new normal, which on Friday inflated into a larger crisis with over 2,000 cases getting in a day.
Arvind Kumar, Chairman, Centre for Chest Surgery, and Director in the Institute of Robotic Surgery at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said, "We are facing a big crisis -- not only shortage of hospital beds, but also shortage of healthcare workers. By merely saying we will add more beds is not sufficient to address the Covid-19 crisis. If a patient is developing respiratory issues where will you take him?
"Delhi has merely 10,000 beds and there is a projection of 5.5 Lakh cases in Delhi by July end. Where will hospital beds come from to cater to this number? One must break the transmission cycle, and not focus on adding beds."
The Supreme Court on Friday expressed anguish at the pathetic condition of the patients and their improper care and treatment, and added that it pained the top court.
The overall testing has also gone down in Delhi. On May 27, the number of samples tested was 6018, on June 9, the number was 4670, and on June 11, the total testing in Delhi was reported at 5077. On the contrary, Maharashtra is testing 16,000 a day and Tamil Nadu 17,675 per day.
Saurabh Sachar, senior resident at the Safdarjung Hospital, said, "Delhi government should first set up a call-centre to receive calls for Covid-19. Then, it should strengthen its ambulance response, which can respond to distress calls and ferry critical patients to Covid-19 dedicated Delhi government hospitals.
The central system should identify hospitals wherever bed is available, rather than putting doctors and other professionals under pressure. Coordination through a central point is the need of the hour. The Delhi government should include more of its hospitals as dedicated Covid-19 hospitals."
He added that this will streamline the healthcare infrastructure response to Covid-19 patients.
Slamming the AAP government, the Supreme Court said on Friday, "We do not understand why the tests have gone down in Delhi. Non-testing of the patients is not a solution to the problem rather increase in the testing facility is the duty of the state, so that people may come to know about their health status regarding Covid-19 and they may take appropriate care and treatment of Covid-19."
Amit Malviya, senior resident at AIIMS, said, "AIIMS has already turned its trauma centre, plastic and burns centres and AIIMS Jhajjar into Covid-19 treatment facility. As our centres fill up with patients, we are expanding our facilities. Delhi government can adopt a similar strategy to expand its facilities to incorporate Covid-19 patients."