Gosha Hospital to be Covid maternity facility

BENGALURU: With a large number of pregnant women testing positive for Covid and many turning up at the trauma care centre of Victoria Hospital, the government has now identified Gosha Hospital in Shivajinagar as a dedicated Covid maternity facility. The hospital will have 80 dedicated beds for pregnant Covid-positive patients and will start functioning in the next two days.

The Gosha Hospital comes under the Bowring and Lady Curzon Medical College and Research Institute. Dr Manoj Kumar H V, Dean and Director of Bowring Institute said, “Since there was an overload of patients at Victoria Hospital, the government identified Gosha Hospital as a dedicated Covid maternity hospital. Those who test negative for Covid will be sent to Vani Vilas Hospital.”

“The hospital was to start functioning from Monday, but there are staff constraints as many are under quarantine. Additional staff will be deployed from Bangalore Medical College Research Institute (BMCRI). Right now, there are only a few PG students and doctors and we are waiting for more staff. For emergencies, we have identified 13 beds at Bowring Hospital and some are admitted here. After Gosha Hospital starts functioning, we will shift them there,” Dr Manoj added.

Dr Anitha G S, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, BMCRI, said there are 200 pregnant patients at the Victoria Hospital trauma care centre and the patient load is only increasing. “The deliveries for Covid patients so far have been successful. We are even looking after non-Covid patients and we conduct about 30 deliveries daily. But since Covid cases are increasing, the government is identifying a separate hospital,” said Dr Anitha.

Meanwhile, Vani Vilas Hospital has conducted 198 deliveries during the pandemic, with 200 babies including four pairs of twins. “The first 100 babies were delivered between May 9 and July 17. The next 100 babies were delivered in just 23 days between July 17 and August 10. Most of the deliveries were normal deliveries and both the babies and mothers are fine,” Dr Anitha added.