Long wait for beds as Jammu’s Covid triage facility overwhelmed
Patients with oxygen cylinders seen sitting on hospital stairs, lying in the park, ambulances and on stretchers
JAMMU: Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, the government Chest Diseases Hospital, the first contact point and triage facility for Covid patients in Jammu, has started bursting at the seams.
The hospital witnessed a heavy rush of the patients on Thursday. Patients with oxygen cylinders were seen sitting on hospital stairs, lying in the park, ambulances and stretchers. Ambulances with sirens and lights flashing could be seen converging on the hospital premises. However, patients and attendants had to wait for hours for their turn.
“We have been waiting for over two hours now. I have brought my elder brother from Lalyana in Bishnah. The hospital staff told us that they have no beds and asked me to take him home. However, they did provide us with an oxygen cylinder,” said a youngster tending his ailing brother.
A technicians of a 108 ambulance, swathed in personal protective equipment said, “The ambulances have brought patients to the hospital but they are not being admitted.”
A woman technician of another 108 ambulance said, “The hospital should admit the patients quickly as we are getting an increasing number of calls.”
Though doctors and paramedics are working round-theclock, manpower shortage has also hit the functioning of the hospital, said an official, on condition of anonymity.
The hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Rajeshwar Sharma said, “A large number of people had rushed to the hospital and many had to wait for their turn but within six hours, from 10am to 4 pm, we received 125 Covid positive patients, all of whom were examined. Forty CT scans were conducted. Some patients were sent to Covid care centres and 22 were hospitalised.”
“Every patient was given an oxygen cylinder the moment they reached the hospital. Examining and treating 125 patients in six hours takes time. We have to examine each one of them and check their oxygen saturation level,” said Dr Sharma.
“We have a triage area with sheds and chairs but the patients prefer to sit in parks instead,” Sharma said.
Every CT scan takes 10 minutes and then we have to wait for the report. We conducted 40 CT scans today in four to five hours,” he said.
CD hospital as 110 beds, of which 14 are ICU beds and they are all occupied.