ICU beds in city: 15 at 9pm amid frantic hunt for slots
Officials of several hospitals in Noida and Ghaziabad said they are trying to arrange for oxygen on hourly basis even as family of patients ran pillar to post to procure cylinders
NEW DELHI: At 9pm on Thursday, there were a mere 15 ICU beds – of them only four with ventilators – remaining for Covid-19 patients in India’s national capital, the Delhi government’s hospital resource reporting app showed. The vacant beds accounted for 0.32% of the 4,663 ICU beds assigned for Covid-19 cases.
Of the 20,443 regular hospital beds for Covid-19 patients, only 10.5% – or 2,141 – were available at the same time on Thursday.
These numbers illustrate the near-collapse of the health infrastructure under the burden of a record number of infections.
In the case of ICU beds, there was a peak of 34 vacancies that was reported on Wednesday morning before the number dropped soon after. For most of Thursday, there were fewer than 20 ICU beds available.
Experts say the numbers capture a crisis that has been unfolding for several weeks now and could drive up mortality. “So far, there was hardly any difference in mortality rate during this wave. But deaths may rise as the system has been overburdened,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the community medicine at Safdarjung hospital.
GHAZIABAD/NOIDA: Many private hospitals in Ghaziabad and Noida continued to face shortage of oxygen on Thursday as supplies could not keep up with demand in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases in the National Capital Region.
Officials of several hospitals in both the cities said that they are trying to arrange for oxygen on hourly basis even as family members of the patients were running pillar to post to procure oxygen cylinders.
In Ghaziabad, officials familiar with the development said that the city currently requires 59 tonnes of oxygen daily, but supply is only about 30-35 tonnes per day.
Shailesh Kumar, father of an 18-year-old girl, was in tears outside Avantika Hospital in Indirapuram and desperately seeking any arrangement for oxygen. “The hospital told us that there is no oxygen supply, and we should try elsewhere. How will she get the treatment now? She was admitted here since April 17,” he said.
Many hospitals in the city face similar situation.
“We have never faced such conditions with oxygen left for few hours and we are trying to arrange each and every cylinder we can. We have asked patients to make arrangements elsewhere. We have 35 patients and one of them left while others are trying to arrange oxygen on their own,” said Dr Yuvraj Sharma, managing director of Avantika Hospital.
“At present, we are depending on and arranging for hourly supplies. The district administration is also trying to arrange oxygen for us. Many hospitals face similar issues,” Sharma said, adding that a minimum of 30 cylinders are required each day for Covid treatment.
Nearby Shanti Gopal Hospital in Ahimsa Khand II also faced similar issues. “We have intimated patients about the issue of oxygen and have discharged patients who didn’t require emergency services. There are 25 Covid beds, but we have oxygen supply only for six hours. The administration got arranged 15 cylinders and we also arranged similar numbers. So, we will be able to manage till Friday afternoon. Only nine of 22 patients are left now,” said Dr Sanjay Garg, one of the directors at Shanti Gopal Hospital.
“Even empty cylinders are not available at present so that we can get them refilled on our own,” Dr Garg added.
Despite repeated attempts, Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey did not respond to calls and text messages. Shailendra Kumar Singh, additional district magistrate (city) and nodal officer for oxygen supplies, also did not respond to calls.
However, officials of the district industries department said that 150 empty cylinders of seven cubic metres each were sent to Muzaffarnagar for refilling and once they reach Ghaziabad, they will be supplied to hospitals as per requirement. “We also have 60 empty cylinders of 60 cubic metres each and one empty tank with 20 tonne capacity. These can be refilled and can also be put to use for supply to hospitals,” said Virendra Kumar, general manager of district industries department.
In Noida, the managements of Kailash Hospital in Sector 27 and Prakash Hospital in Sector 33 announced that it was difficult to function without adequate supply.
Prakash Hospital said that its Noida facility has 55 Covid-19 patients and Greater Noida hospital has 85 positive patients. “For the last few days, the two hospitals have been facing serious difficulties in getting adequate and regular supply of oxygen. Our supplier is situated in Faridabad. On Thursday, the supplier said they could not give us oxygen as they have to supply the gas to Haryana hospitals,” said Ayush Chauhan, executive director, Prakash Hospital.
In the afternoon, Prakash Hospital’s Noida facility had two and a half hours of oxygen supply, and Greater Noida facility hospital had three hours of oxygen supply, Chauhan said, adding that they were working on sourcing oxygen from other vendors.
“We have shifted around 12 patients from Noida hospital and five patients from Greater Noida hospital to other hospitals,” said Chauhan.
While the present requirement of oxygen in Gautam Budh Nagar is 60 metric tonnes (MT) a day, the supply is about 10 MT. Dr Shweta, in-charge of oxygen/medicine availability, GB Nagar, said Prakash Hospital had faced oxygen shortage since morning. “We provided them 80 oxygen cylinders and resumed supply. They shifted some patients to other hospitals for safety,” she said.
Kailash Hospital at one point had only four to five hours of oxygen. “We’ve four hospitals in GB Nagar. All of them are suffering from the lack of oxygen. We have 450 patients and we’ve stopped new admissions due to the shortage. We are even ready to buy oxygen at inflated rates but the supply is restricted,” said Dr Ritu Bohra, Kailash Hospital’s group medical director.
VB Joshi, Kailash Hospital spokesperson, said they had not shifted any patient on Thursday.
Meanwhile, there were several patients who are doing rounds of hospitals but not getting beds.
“My relatives have run from one hospital to the other with my mother-in-law (aged 70 and a resident of Rajendra Nagar) who is suffering fever and low oxygen levels, but they could not find any hospital. All hospitals said that oxygen supply is running out,” said Nitin Ashu, a resident of Pratap Vihar in Ghaziabad.
Under the present circumstances, families have arranged for oxygen cylinders on their own. “For the past four days my mother is not able to move out of bed. No hospital is admitting her citing lack of oxygen supply. So, I arranged for a cylinder at home and it lasts four hours. Once it gets finished, I rush to Navyug Market to get it refilled,” said Prateek Kaushik, resident of Delhi Gate locality.
In Noida, families of Covid-19 patients admitted in Prakash hospital said they were being forced to take their sick elsewhere. Sonu Kumar, a resident of Sonia Vihar in Delhi, said that his maternal grandmother was admitted since last week. “Delhi’s hospital beds were occupied and so we admitted her in Noida. On Thursday, the hospital informed us that there was no oxygen and we should get her discharged. We managed an oxygen cylinder through our personal sources. But the hospital still wants us to take her somewhere else,” he said.
Meanwhile, Swati Maliwal, chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women, tweeted, “My nana (grandparent) died waiting for emergency support in front of Sharda Hospital in Greater Noida. I kept standing there for half an hour and pleading for admission and nothing happened. Shame! Pathetic!”
Ajit Kumar, Sharda Hospital spokesperson, said that all the beds were occupied in the hospital. “The hospital management was trying to arrange a bed for the patient. The patient was in a critical condition and he died before admission,” he said.