HYDERABAD: Bodies of COVID-19 patients are piling up in the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) mortuary, forcing the staff to leave them on beds, in corridors, pathways, outposts of ICU and even inside the ICU amongst patients battling death.
The New Indian Express accessed pictures of bodies wrapped and left in odd corners of the hospital.
"The mortuary has the space to keep only 10 bodies in cold refrigeration. The staff is now rationing the space in the cold freezer to the deceased who had come from far away districts, as it takes time for their relatives to complete the formalities of NOCs and so on. The deceased who are from the city are being placed outside, in the corridors," said a source in the hospital.
The source added that the hospital roughly sees 25-35 deaths every day, and some bodies remain unclaimed for a few days, adding to the pile-up.
Further, due to staff shortage, particularly Class IV employees, the time taken to move a body from the hospital bed into body bags is higher than ever. "There are just two people who shift bodies to the mortuary, and one of them recently tested positive for COVID-19. One individual can’t handle more than 35 bodies a day," said the source.
The mortality rate has unexpectedly been high in the second wave. The hospital, which was inaugurated last year, has about 700 patients across its nine floors at present, and has expanded its ICU from one floor to four different floors.
"The mortality rate is very high now and the patients coming in have oxygen saturation below 80 per cent. If the dead are on the bed in the ICU for 7-8 hours, needy patients would have to wait longer to be moved to an ICU. Their condition might become very critical," another source said.
65 faculty and students at Osmania Medical College, 20 staffers at OGH test positive
HYDERABAD: Ever since the second wave of the pandemic hit the State, around 65 doctors and students from Osmania Medical College, working across various affiliated hospitals, have tested positive for the virus.
Apart from these 65 cases, another five doctors and 15 staffers tested positive in Osmania General Hospital. It is learnt all of these 20 individuals had taken both doses of the vaccine. This development, along with the introduction of a 216-bedded COVID-19 ward in OGH, has saddled the hospital, which was the only tertiary hospital left for non-COVID care.
The number of beds in the hospital had already reduced last year from 1,385 to 980, after all the wards were moved from old buildings to new ones. With the blocking of these 216 beds for COVID-19, there are only 764 beds left for non-COVID patients, according to reports
Media academy to give Rs 2 lakh aid to kin of scribes who died of COVID-19
HYDERABAD: Media Academy of Telangana has decided to provide Rs 2 lakh immediate financial assistance to the kin of journalists who died of COVID-19.
In a statement here on Monday, Media Academy chairman Allam Narayana said that in the last 10 days, around 15 journalists died of COVID-19. He asked the family members of the deceased journalists to apply for the relief before May 10. For further details, citizens can contact 040-23298672/74.
The chairman also requested the State government to recognise journalists as frontline warriors, and set up special testing centres for them. He also wanted special facilities to be provided in hospitals for journalists