CHENNAI: Not so long ago at Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), there were no beds for Covid patients and about 20-30 ambulances were waiting outside the premises at any given time, with patients gasping for breath. However, cases have come down now, and the situation in the leading tertiary hospital treating Covid patients has improved.
Doctors said that their ambulance corridor is absolutely clear with not even a single vehicle waiting for admission. “When an ambulance arrives, we immediately shift the patient to the ward. There is no waiting now,” says RGGGH Dean Dr E Theranirajan. He said that from about 250 to 270 patients in the Covid Zero Delay Ward during the peak in the first week of May, the numbers have now come down to 120 patients a day. Presently, out of the 2,050 beds available at the hospital, about 1,455 are occupied.
Complimenting this drop in admissions, cases in Chennai too have drastically come down. From a peak of 7,564 cases on May 12, and a positivity rate of 24.1 per cent, cases declined to 2,779 on May 27 with a positivity rate of 9.4 per cent — the first instance of positivity rate falling below 10% in 50 days.
According to experts, a positivity rate of below five indicates that the spread has been contained. RGGGH Dean meanwhile said that the many reasons for the decline in admissions and cases include lockdown, multi-disciplinary treatment, and ramping up of facilities.
“We added beds on the seventh floor of a tower. Then, we also added beds in the superspecialty block and cardio-thoracic block,” the Dean added. All this was done in a short span of time as cases peaked. “We also have beds at the IOG hospital and Chennai Trade Centre. Admissions have come down well compared to the peak,” the Dean said.