HYDERABAD: The medical bulletins on Covid- 19 being issued by the State government have been claiming availability of 90 per cent of beds in the government hospitals, including 3,500 beds with oxygen facilities and 1,600 ICU beds.
However, the ground reality is entirely different as patients continue to be denied basic treatment and are shifted between hospitals, citing lack of beds.
Express called up the officials of the hospitals, including Koti ENT, Osmania, Chest and Fever hospitals, which are the primary hospitals for Covid-19 symptoms, to enquire about the availability of beds for this category of patients.
Of the four main hospitals, only OGH, Chest and Koti ENT hospitals are currently admitting patients who are in critical stage.
The OGH, which takes in only about 70 to 80 pneumonia stage patients with Covid symptoms, running to full capacity. “All beds are full with grade three shortness of breath and Severe Acute Respiratory infection patients.
They have no reports for Covid-19 and so we are giving them oxygen treatment and antibiotics,” said a doctor at OGH. At Koti Hospital, 45 of the 50 ICU beds are currently occupied by the patients. Similarly, in Chest Hospital where there are only 16 ICU beds, the beds are being rapidly filled up. Meanwhile, officials at the Fever Hospital informed that only those with moderate symptoms are being treated at the hospital in their 76-bed isolation facility, where oxygen ports are still being set up.
Hosp-wise break up of beds must: Experts
According to calculations, these four hospitals when put together have 140 to 160 odd ICU beds, which running full, though the daily medical bulletins claim availability of 1,300 beds.
While it is unclear where these many beds are, sources within the Health Department claim that it has taken into consideration the beds at Gandhi Hospital, where only confirmed cases are treated, and TIMS which is still not operational. At present, most of the ICU beds are for confirmed cases and not those with just symptoms, leading to much distress and confusion.
“The only solution to reduce suspects landing directly in ICU is to have a massive awareness drive among people to get tested at the slightest symptom. They must not wait till they are critically ill. The government must start rapid antigen tests (RAT) in red zones,” said Dr Mahesh Kumar K, President Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association.
He added that a hospital- wise break up must be provided to people, informing them about the availability of beds. Meanwhile, in Koti ENT and Fever Hospital, for patients who need only oxygen, sufficient number of beds are available. In Koti, of the 200 beds, 100 are available and in Fever Hospital 120 beds are available, the sources said.