BENGALURU: As of 5.30pm on April 7, only 571 government quota Covid-19 beds were available in government and private medical colleges, government and private hospitals, and government Covid Care Centres (CCC) in Bengaluru -- a sign that beds are fast filling up. The city had 32,605 active cases as of Tuesday. Of the 2,300 allocated beds, 1,729 are occupied, the real-time bed management portal made public by BBMP shows.
The highest Covid patient burden is on government hospitals, where 717 of 862 beds are occupied. This is followed by government CCCs, where 377 of 578 beds are full. As per the portal, 14 government hospitals and two government CCCs (Haj Bhavan and HAL) have the most number of positive patients. All 325 beds in government medical colleges are full.
With private hospitals yet to open up and allocate 50 per cent of their beds for Covid patients referred under the government quota, the entire burden is on government facilities now, explained Dr H D R Radhakrishna, medical superintendent, CV Raman General Hospital. At this hospital, 148 of 151 beds are occupied.
“This scenario is expected. Once the 500 to 1,000 bedded private medical colleges and private hospitals open up for corona patients, more beds will be available on the portal. At present, people are preferring government hospitals over government CCCs,” Dr Radharkishna explained.Of 445 beds in private medical colleges under the government quota, 300 are filled, and of 90 government quota beds in private hospitals, 10 are filled.
At Ramaiah Medical College, 31 of 35 government quota beds are occupied. Dr Harish K, associate dean, Ramaiah Medical College, said that beds are filling up fast and they have to operate non-Covid services, alongside maintaining beds for government and private quota Covid patients.“We have 80 Covid beds. We will increase the number of beds under government quota and reduce the number for private Covid patients,” Dr Harish said.
The portal mentions 3,267 beds under private quota, 212 private CCCs and 19,832 people under home isolation, though the breakup is not given.Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Wednesday said that before the pandemic hit, there were 5,000-6,000 oxygenated beds in government hospitals. “In just 10 months, the number has increased by six times to about 35,000 oxygenated beds today,” Sudhakar said.