HUBBALLI: Doctors and other medical staff at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubballi are getting a breather from Covid duties as the number of new cases has dipped in the past few days.
With fewer Covid patients turning up, they have begun to turn their attention back to other patients who have begun trickling in.
Dharwad district has been reporting less than 15 fresh cases per day and the number of active cases was 92 on Tuesday. Of this, 64 people with mild to severe symptoms are in government and private hospitals in the district and 28 asymptomatic people are in home isolation.
Thousands of people from several districts come to KIMS for treatment as they consider it the lifeline of North Karnataka. Since March, the hospital has treated hundreds of Covid patients. At the peak of the pandemic in the district, the hospital treated 450 patients and medical staff voluntarily worked without leave for long periods.
Medical Superintendent of the hospital Arunkumar C said the hospital has 17 Covid patients at present, seven of whom are in ICU and the rest in regular wards. “The number of Covid-19 patients came down recently, which has helped doctors concentrate on general patients in the hospital,” he told TNIE.
General patients, who had not visited the hospital due to lockdown and out of fear of the pandemic, are now turning up at the hospital. Over the last 15 days, the number of patients visiting every day has touched 1,500, close to pre-Covid levels.Doctors and other medical staff who were working in Covid wards have been moved back to their previous departments, and are relieved about working without PPE suits and treating general patients, he added.