KALYAN: MANY WAIT FOR BEDS FOR DAYS

KALYAN: With only two per cent to three per cent of the beds available in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) limits, the Covid patients are now found waiting at the civic hospitals for hours and days.

A video of the patients with oxygen support waiting in the lobby of a civic-run hospital in Kalyan has gone viral since Wednesday. Patients were found resting and sleeping on the chairs put up in the hospital lobby.

The civic-run hospital, which recently started a ward for suspected Covid patients, has also run out of bed, claimed the KDMC health department.

“Our priority is to provide at least the basic facility, which is oxygen to patients who are in need of beds for treatment. Even if they are waiting in the lobby or the wards, we make sure they don’t face breathing issues and we give them oxygen first. Simultaneously, our staff are working on locating them to a Covid care centre or a hospital as per the availability of the beds. On an average, around 10-15 patients wait at the hospital for beds daily,” said Ashwini Patil, medical health officer, KDMC.

In KDMC, out of the 5,672 beds of various types, 5,469 are occupied. All the isolation beds without oxygen – 2,749 of them – are fully filled. Out of the 2,059 isolation beds with oxygen, 1,732 are occupied, 749 of the 768 ICU beds and 39 out of the 221 ventilator beds are also filled.

“Every day, we are allowing more private hospitals to treat Covid patients after checking their capabilities. The civic body is also planning to set up more facilities in the coming days and the work is in progress,” said an officer of the health department.