NEW DELHI: The Dharamveer Solanki Multispeciality Hospital has been facing many issues ever since it declared itself open for COVID-19 patients. Since the hospital announced having beds for coronavirus positive patients, it has been fighting hard against a shortage of staff and financial issues.
Dr Pankaj Solanki is running the hospital as a COVID-19 facility with just 27 healthcare workers and staff. The hospital in Rohini, with a bed capacity of 50, has separated 10 ICU beds for coronavirus patients.
“After I announced that our hospital will have COVID-19 patients, the receptionist left, the security guards refused to come for duty, the laundry services stopped and then the HCWs and staff quit,” said Dr Solanki. He had to arrange the requirements for the COVID-19 ward, get PPE kits, and train the HCWs.
“Initially, the sanitation workers were not ready to wear PPE kits. They wanted to enter the Covid-19 rooms just wearing masks. I had to explain to them how risky it was without PPE kits and why safety measures were necessary,” he said.
“I had to chalk down separate entry and exit gates for patients, ensure good catering service for patients etc,” he added.
“I played the role of a receptionist as well as that of the medical director. I attended calls at even 2 am, arrived early and stayed till late at the hospital,” he noted.
The hospital is now facing financial difficulties as non-COVID beds are lying empty while there has been no new coronavirus patient.
“It’s extremely difficult to run a private set up. The monthly expenditure is around `15-20 lakhs which I am not drawing. So we might hand it over to the state government for operating or outsource our resources,” he said.
What gives ultimate satisfaction to Dr Solanki is the fact that all the COVID patients admitted in the hospital are now discharged after testing negative.
“We had four Covid-19 patients and I had affirmed no matter what it takes, these patients will be discharged healthy. When these patients were discharged I had tears in my eyes,” he said.