GADAG: With a surge in cases in the district over the last month, authorities at the Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) are asking caregivers of serious Covid patients to take them to private hospitals due to a lack of ventilators. GIMS has 18 ventilators, which are all in use currently, and staffers are finding it hard to manage patients. Of late, there has been an increase in the number of patients with Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).
Also, more than 50 patients have been admitted in the last month with various ailments and they have no choice but to go to KIMS in Hubballi due to lack of ventilators. Srinivas Bolappanavar, a resident of Betageri, said that many patients coming to GIMS have BPL cards, and they cannot afford to get treated at private hospitals. “GIMS officials are not ready to take in serious patients now, and are asking them to visit other hospitals.
We have requested officials to arrange extra ventilators for non-Covid patients too,” he said. Meanwhile, a GIMS official said, “There is a scarcity of ventilators. On Monday, 15 ventilators were arranged that are being used for Covid- 19 patients. Many government hospitals in the district are running short of machines. We have brought this to the notice of senior officials and will soon resolve the issue.”