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Delhi stares at grim Covid scenario ahead of Diwali — deaths rising, 50% hospital beds full

Most ICU beds in Delhi hospitals, with and without ventilators, are occupied. Govt now plans to add 5,000 beds by November-end to tackle the Covid surge.

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New Delhi: Delhi has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases over the past two weeks, with over 6,000-7,000 cases being reported every day. But what is more worrying is the rising number of deaths in the national capital, which has increased from 10 per 1,000 cases on 8 October to 14 per 1,000 now.

According to government health bulletins, Delhi recorded 401 deaths for the week ending 8 November, a 40 per cent increase. This is the highest Covid death tally since July. The city reported 77 deaths in the last 24 hours, 79 Saturday, 64 Friday, and 66 Thursday. 

While the capital accounted for just 3.6 per cent of the country’s daily deaths in June, the figure has now jumped to 14 per cent.

The test positivity rate has also gone up — from 8.54 per cent on 6 September to 15.26 per cent now.

According to the Government of India’s Sunday bulletin, 79 per cent of the 45,903 new infections reported in the last 24 hours are from 10 states and UTs, with Delhi overtaking Maharashtra and Kerala as the largest contributor to India’s single-day infections, reporting 7,745 fresh cases.

In this situation, Delhi’s private and government hospitals are running out of ICU beds. Data from the ‘Delhi Corona’ app showed that 50 per cent of Covid beds in all private and government hospitals were occupied until Monday evening.

Delhi government officials, however, told ThePrint that they plan to add nearly 5,000 new beds in private and government hospitals by the end of this month, to tackle the third Covid wave in the capital.


Also read: Third wave of Covid in Delhi will end soon like previous two surges, says Arvind Kejriwal


ICU beds not available in most hospitals

The data on the availability of ICU beds in the capital makes for grim reading.

Delhi has 131 Covid hospitals in total, but critical care facilities are largely full. There are currently 16,313 Covid beds across private and government hospitals in Delhi, of which 8,244 or 50 per cent were occupied until Monday evening, according to the Delhi Corona app.

On Sunday, 1,017 of the total 1,268 ICU beds with ventilators in both government and private hospitals were occupied, and until Monday evening, 1,046 beds were occupied, according to the ‘Delhi Corona’ app.

Similarly, of the 2,043 ICU beds without ventilators, 1,640 were occupied until Monday afternoon. 

ICU beds with ventilators are not available at GTB Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Sardar Patel Covid Army Hospital and Northern Railway Hospital, data from the Covid app showed.

Among the private hospitals, no ICU beds are available at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, VIMHANS, Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, Saroj Super Specialty Hospital, and Fortis Hospital (Shalimar Bagh), among others. 

ThePrint approached Nutan Mundeja, director of health services, Delhi government, and Health Minister Satyendar Jain for comments through phone calls and text messages, but there was no response till the time of publishing this report.

Jain had, on 6 November, tweeted an order, directing 14 private hospitals to reserve 50 per cent of their beds for Covid patients.

Shortage of Covid beds hits patients hard

A 54-year-old resident of Tis Hazari, who didn’t wish to be named, had to fight hard Sunday evening to find a bed in one of the Covid hospitals, before finally managing one at St Stephen’s Hospital after waiting for hours. 

Several such cases have been brought to the notice of the Delhi health department recently, said an official who didn’t want to be named.

The Delhi government last week moved the Supreme Court, asking it to allow its order to earmark 80 per cent of all ICU beds in 33 private hospitals for Covid patients. The order was previously stayed by the Delhi High Court.

Earlier last month, a report prepared by the National Centre for Disease Control had stated Delhi should prepare for a surge of 15,000 positive cases per day during the winter months. 


Also read: Pollution, festivities, onset of winter — why Delhi is seeing its ‘third wave’ of Covid


Govt plans to add nearly 5,000 beds for Covid patients

On Thursday, the Delhi government decided to augment bed capacity in hospitals, and deploy mobile testing vans in markets and crowded places.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to review Covid preparedness, along with a need for advance planning to deal with the spread of the virus.

At the meeting, it was also decided to ramp up the medical infrastructure in hospitals by increasing the oxygen facilities and ICU beds, the government had said in a statement.

A second health department official told ThePrint the government plans to add nearly 5,000 beds across private and government hospitals by November-end.

This means adding about 1,558 beds in Delhi government hospitals, 1,092 beds in central government hospitals and 2,241 beds in private hospitals in the city, the official added. 

Key hospitals where the bed capacity will be augmented include Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH), Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.

While RGSSH will get 150 beds, the others are expected to get 100 beds each, the official told ThePrint. 

Dr B.S. Sherwal, director of RGSSH, said: “We currently have a capacity of 500 and with an addition of 150, we will be able to accommodate 650 patients in Covid-19 wards.”

“Patients are coming to us in critical condition, so many deaths happen within 12 hours of their admission,” Sherwal said.

But the RGSSH is massively under-staffed, sources in the hospital told ThePrint. The hospital has only about 60-70 doctors, including junior resident doctors, against a capacity of 200. The matter has been communicated to senior officials in the Delhi government, sources added.

Dr N.N. Mathur, medical director, Lady Hardinge Medical College, said a building meant to be dedicated exclusively for Covid patients is under construction and nearing completion. 

“This will have another 24 beds in addition to the 36 ICU beds that are already occupied in the main building,” Dr Mathur told ThePrint. 


Also read: Delhi replaces Maharashtra, Kerala as highest contributor to daily Covid cases


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Its great if u r adding more and more beds, but from where you ll get health care workers, what ll be patient-doctor/patient-nursing staff/patient-house keeper staff, just like that, Hawa mein, dont play with sentiments of public, if they ll not get care they ll die, so increasing beds is not the only solution.

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