NHSL dedicates 9 wards to COVID-19 infected

Making use of this time, the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) has promptly strengthened its facilities.

It is recently that the NHSL with nearly 3,500 beds and 7,000 healthcare staff set up dedicated COVID-19 treatment wards.

Before explaining what changes have been made recently, a source said that at the beginning of the lockdown the NHSL had about 175 COVID19 positive patients. Now it has about 160 including 60 who are oxygen-dependent. There are 15 ICU beds for COVID-19 patients.

“Even though there is not much of a reduction in numbers, the feeling of being overwhelmed has decreased,” the source said, explaining that the hospital has been able to refurbish 9 wards with more facilities including life- saving wall oxygen.

The Sunday Times learns that of the 9 wards with 500 beds, only five are being used, with the other four ready to accommodate more patients.

The source explained that patients other than those affected by COVID-19 have got lesser facilities as some surgical and medical wards had to be amalgamated to make room for COVID-19 patients.

“We were about to start our routine surgical procedures (such as hernia, hydrocele, etc.) which had been curtailed earlier but that too would have to await some normalcy,” the source said, adding a similar fate faces the routine outpatient clinics which came to a halt about 15 months ago due to the pandemic. These include the cardiology, neurology, rheumatology, surgical and medical clinics catering to about 2,000 patients a day.

The source was happy that the fear psychosis that gripped the healthcare staff at the beginning of the pandemic, which in some instances led to them not attending to patients, has had a dramatic turnaround.

“In Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the doctors, both senior and junior, and the nurses are doing ward rounds and are by the patients’ bedside when necessary,” the source added.