‘Now is not the time to rejoice, we cannot let our guard down’
Dr AK Singh Rana, the new medical superintendent (MS) of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, spoke to about learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic, the mortality rate in the hospital, resuming the care of noncovid patients, and expansion plans.
Dutt Anonna Edited excerpts:
from March and health workers in respiratory medicine, internal medicine, and critical care medicine bore the brunt of it.
Doctors, nurses, paramedics and staff from across departments pitched in and worked with a lot of dedication. admissions had reduced during that period, that is why the number of deaths appears to be higher.
Another issue—which was pointed out by physicians from several other hospitals—was the delay in admissions. We have observed that the death rate is higher when patients report to the hospital late — it could be because people are scared of coming to a hospital, public transport has not resumed full throttle, and there is an inertia among people over the last few months.
The death rate is also high among old people with multiple comorbidities.
Now is not the time to rejoice; we cannot let our guards down. Other countries — like the US — saw a decline in the number of cases before the resurgence. But, yes, we need to look at how to go back to offering complete non-covid treatment.
Ever since the pandemic began, we have not closed our emergency services or the OPD at all.
Next week, I have a meeting with all the heads of the departments to discuss what can be done. I want to have a plan in place so that we can gradually and safely move to taking care of non-covid patients whenever experts feel that it is the right time. We cannot de-escalate all our preparations in one go.
We have an ambitious redevelopment plan for the hospital. With the population of Delhi growing, the old infrastructure has become inadequate. Horizontal expansion is no longer possible, we are now looking at vertical expansion.