VISAKHAPATNAM: King George Hospital, the ‘lifeline’ of north coastal Andhra and Odisha districts bordering AP, is bursting at the seams as almost 60 per cent of the beds cater to Covid patients. Out of the 1,470 beds in the hospital, 886 are earmarked for Covid treatment.
The teaching hospital came to the rescue of the patients in the first wave when a five-storey CSR block with 500 beds with 100 per cent oxygen support was turned into a full-fledged Covid hospital. Around 400 more beds in Rajendra Prasad ward, Bhavnagar ward, orthopaedic ward, casualty and superspeciality block were also allocated for the purpose.
All non-Covid patients from these wards were shifted to S4 block, and after there was a drop in cases there was no problem in their accommodation, according to KGH superintendent Mythili. “We were able to give quarantine leaves to doctors and nurses last year. But we are unable to do so now due to shortage of staff,” she told The New Indian Express.
ITDA project officer and KGH nodal officer S Venkateswaran said they were in a position that a patient can be assigned a bed within 15 to 20 minutes of his/her arrival. patients. “Besides, five to six beds are available at the triage centre any given time. Patients are being attended immediately. A German shed with 100 beds for the isolation ward will come up within a week...” Venkateswaran said most of the patients referred to the KGH needed oxygen support. Mythili observed that the gap between demand and supply has been brought down considerably even though there are more number of admissions than discharge of patients.
At any given time, 40 doctors, including senior doctors and surgeons, are deployed at the CSR block. There are para-medical staff, mainly technicians, and 10 aestheticians working in each shift. Owing to increase in the number of patients, more doctors, nurses and paramedical staff are required. Mythili said two oxygen plants sanctioned by the Centre are ready for commissioning in a day or two. Both the plants can generate three tonnes against the requirement of two tonnes, she said.