Is Odisha Capital Running Out Of COVID Beds? Questions Abound Amid Surge In Cases

Bhubaneswar: Squashing reports about the lack of beds in hospitals to accommodate COVID-19 patients, the Odisha government has released the occupancy percentage in such facilities in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack along with that in other parts of the state.

While 85 per cent of general and ICU beds have been filled up in Cuttack, the situation is better in Bhubaneswar with 58 per cent occupancy. More than 50 per cent of beds are vacant in COVID hospitals in other places in the state.

Though statistics show that beds are available, patients are still struggling to get admitted to the hospital, if reports are to be believed.

Health Secretary Pradipta Mohapatra told Odisha Bytes that patients should contact the control rooms set up both in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. “The RRT teams are also visiting serious patients and a protocol is in position,” he said.

He said that the number of hospital beds would go up once the government’s order to include 50 per cent general beds and 80 per cent ICU beds is implemented.

“Municipal Commissioners had a meeting with all hospitals with more than 30 beds and are in the process of finalising those that would be available for COVID treatment,” he added.

On September 18, Bhubaneswar Municipal Commissioner Prem Chaudhary had asserted that the hospital situation in the city was comfortable. “On a rotation basis, asymptomatic patients are being shifted home. A total of 445 ICUs and 2500 general beds are available in private hospitals. Squads have been formed to monitor treatment of COVID-19 patients in these hospitals,”  he added.

The commissioner had further said that 73.5 per cent of patients were under home isolation, which means over 3000 of the 4212 total active cases in the city. Therefore, around 1000 patients were admitted to hospitals for treatment as on September 18.

Sources in KIMS COVID Hospital confirmed that 416 of a total 500 (45 in ICU) beds were occupied as on September 20. All ICU beds are occupied for the last 15 days. With patients coming from all over Odisha, the hospital has so far treated near about 5000 cases.

Similarly, all 34 COVID beds in Apollo Hospitals and 118 beds in AMRI Hospitals are full, the respective hospital sources added.

A doctor posted at KIMS said that people are still unaware of the symptoms and the facilities for treatment of COVID-19 patients available at the district level. They are often rushed to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in a critical state when doctors can do little to save their life.

The Odisha government had recently asked district officials not to refer patients to the twin cities and make use of available infrastructure at their disposal. When people construed this notification as a ban on the movement of patients to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, a clarification was issued stating that it was only for regulating the shifting process to ensure that the patients travel safely and with proper medical advice and oxygen support.

Patients in home isolation are also complaining about a delayed response from BMC in an emergency situation. The process requires patients to call on helpline no 1929, which is open round-the-clock for the last 20 days.

They are demanding real-time data on bed occupancy and availability in hospitals in the city, where they can immediately rush serious patients without having to blindly dash from one facility to the other.

What is further bothering the denizens is the delay in getting the test results and also the certificate from BMC of having tested positive for the virus.

Amid all these allegations and clarifications, a medical practitioner Dr Debadutta Parija has tweeted some suggestions for the BMC.

1. Carry out massive, concerted and continuous awareness drive on symptoms of COVID-19 and which hospital to approach if there are any signs of the disease.
2. Introduce a system of online/telephonic appointments to fever clinics so as to avoid long waits and rush.
3. AIIMS Bhubaneswar has one of the better systems in place but even then, the queue and waiting times I observed there need to be dramatically cut down. We cannot have seriously ill patients, potentially infected, stand around for so long. This is dangerous.
4. Keep fever clinics running round-the-clock. A trained paramedic or nurse too can man this if the training is made algorithm-based. This will take off the burden and reduce the rush and consequent spread of infection.
5. Keep the labs running round the clock. For that, trained LTs and Microbiologists (not necessarily MD Microbiology) need to be hired and reagents and kits procured. AMC should be in place, along with standby equipment, to reduce downtime due to equipment breakdowns
6. Rope in private labs. Frankly, many patients would rather have the sample collected from their residence for which they would be willing to pay. That would ease the burden of testing from Govt labs and reduce the backlog and reporting time. Ensure Pvt Labs report.

7. Strictly monitor and ensure that all patients who test negative on the Antigen Test (which is known to be of much lower sensitivity) are retested on the RT-PCR.
8. Ensure that the turnaround times (TAT) for reporting the results are adhered to.
9. TAT for Antigen test should be less than an hour from sample collection and the same for rt-PCR should be the same day (if a sample was collected in the forenoon) or the next day (if a sample collected later in the day). Not happening currently. Monitor and ensure this.
10. Ensure test results are intimated by at least an SMS/WhatsApp to patients and caregivers on the registered mobile.
11. Ensure that patients and family members are counselled on isolation and the next steps before they leave the testing centre. Keep printed material handy for distribution.

He further tweeted about the need to manage non-COVID emergencies. “Too many incidences of serious patients being refused admission in all hospitals (and dying) just because they don’t have a COVID test result. This is, frankly, criminal. Medical care can’t be denied irrespective of COVID status,” he wrote.