Hospitals run out of beds for winter ailments

KOLKATA: A 68-year-old patient from Behala who had been referred from a private hospital in south Kolkata to another off the EM Bypass on Sunday had to hop to a third hospital for a bed. At the second hospital, the patient’s family was told that there was no vacant bed. After waiting for close to an hour in the ambulance, the patient was taken to another private hospital off the EM Bypass.

“My father had been bleeding from the rectum and he needed immediate surgical intervention. With the help of the doctor who was treating at the south Kolkata hospital we could finally admit my father to AMRI Hospital Mukundapur,” said the patient’s son, an IT professional.

Private hospitals across the city are faced with a surge in the number of patients needing hospital admission. While some hospitals are running short of beds, the occupancy in other hospitals is 85% and above.

“Our hospital has almost 100% occupancy. In fact, on Sunday we had to admit some patients in the emergency beds temporarily as they needed immediate medical attention. We had to request a few other patients to go to other hospitals” said a source in hospital off the EM Bypass.

Doctors blame the change in weather, the rising pollution and pollens in the air, for the spurt in admissions.

“Recently, an 18-year-old boy, a patient of bronchial asthma, was rushed in with acute breathing distress for which he had to be put on aggressive treatment,” said Joydeep Ghosh, internal medicine expert in Fortis Hospital.

Acute asthma attack, severe respiratory distress, allergic conditions, cold, cough, fever and cardiac problems are some of the ailments due to which patients are requiring immediate hospitalization.

“There is a surge in emergency admissions. What is worrying is that some patients are coming with severe pneumonia for which they have to be ventilated within hours of admission,” said Arindam Biswas, internal medicine specialist at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences.

According to Biswas, it is not just the elderly who being admitted with pneumonia. “Relatively younger patients are also getting the disease.” He cited the example of two patients - less 60 years old - with no underlying condition who had to be put on ventilation for severe pneumonia.

“There is a surge of patients needing hospitalization around this time of the year due to pollution and temperature inversion. But this year, cases have been more severe and many required ventilation support,” said Raja Dhar, pulmonologist at Fortis Hospital.

While patients suffering from COPD and respiratory ailments spiral at this time of the year, the number of cardiac patients also rise adding to the pressure on hospitals.

“The blood vessels get constricted during winter putting additional pressure on the heart triggering heart attacks,” explained Dr Biswas.

Doctors said that they do not take a risk if a patient above 60 comes to hospital with symptoms of heart attack in winter. In summer, these patients would merely have been advised certain confirmatory tests before hospitalization.

“Many prefer to undergo planned surgeries only in winter adding to the hospital occupancy,” said Dr Ghosh.