LUCKNOW SEES HIGH OCCUPANCY OF COVID ICU BEDS
LUCKNOW: Only 82 out of the total 445 ventilator/ICU beds are vacant in the state capital among the Covid facilities at 31 different hospitals.
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds are the least available among different categories of beds for Covid patients here. In other categories, 384 of the 708 HDU (high dependency unit) beds were vacant and 2,675 of the 2,761 isolation beds were unoccupied, according to the health department data updated till 4.20 pm on December 7.
The ICU occupancy was near 100% in the three Level-3 Covid-19 hospitals in Lucknow. None of the 195 and 80 ICU beds at King George’s Medical University (KGMU) and Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), respectively, was vacant. Just one ICU bed was vacant at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences. At Lok Bandhu Hospital, five out of the total 14 ICU beds were vacant.
“Many seriously ill patients are referred here from different hospitals for admission to the ICU/ventilator unit,” said Dr Sudhir Singh, spokesperson for KGMU.Experts said the number of serious patients was still high and they took more time to recover.
“Seriously ill patients, particularly the elderly with comorbidity, need ICU support and they recover slowly. Hence, ICU occupancy has remained high since the pandemic started making people sick in the state,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.“The patients who delay medical support after the symptoms come to light usually have to be attended under the serious category of patients. Such patients also take a longer time to recover,” said Dr PK Gupta, former president of the Indian Medical Association- Lucknow.
LUCKNOW: After a gap of about nine months, University of Lucknow (LU) reopened on Monday with moderate attendance of students following the guidelines of the state government. The university was closed just after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in March this year.
LU vice- chancellor Prof Alok Kumar Rai said, “Though universities and degree colleges across the state reopened on November 21, LU delayed its undergraduate classes because of the weeklong centenary celebrations that concluded on November 25.”
He said, “We had started postgraduate practical classes for our students even when the function was on. Feedback from teachers indicates that there was a good number of undergraduates students in classrooms.”
As students thronged the campus on Monday, it was selfie moment for them to announce the opening of their classroom teaching. They shared their pictures with friends on the social media platforms. “While students’ presence on the main campus was up to the mark, only handful of students turned up on the new campus which is mainly meant for law graduates and management courses,” an official said.
Hemant Pandey, a BA-LLB first-year student said, “It was my first day in the university. We were about 12 students in the classroom today. We hope more students will turn up in days to come. I was excited to see the sprawling campus. Though our online classes started ahead of Diwali, but physical classes are much better than online teaching.”
Those students, who turned up at the second campus of the University at Sitapur Road, said the fun part of the university culture was still missing as students were concerned about their safety and avoiding large gathering near canteens, the favourite joint, where students prefer to sip tea and relish bun and butter or samosas.
Prof Rakesh Chandra of philosophy department said, “It was heartening to see students on the campus. The undergraduate students looked very enthusiastic. The classroom teaching experience was different with students wearing mask due to the pandemic,” he said.
“Classes began from 8.25 am onwards with students gradually crawling in, excited to join the academic as well as the cultural life of the campus,” he said.