Goa: Covid-19 hospital’s ICU put to use only last week

PANAJI: Although the state has seen over 450 Covid-19 cases, several of them with comorbidities, none have had to be put on ventilator until Saturday. The ICU was not even required till last week when a case from Mangor Hill became the first to need intensive care.
The man, involved in the fishing business, was the first local case to be detected from Mangor Hill. His family was also admitted to the hospital.
Brought in as highly symptomatic, he was put on oxygen as his levels were low. “He was monitored to see whether he required to be put on a ventilator, but he didn’t require one,” a doctor said.
The rest of the nearly 250 patients, who tested positive from Mangor Hill, weren’t as symptomatic as this first family that was brought in.
The second-high risk patient, who was admitted to the ICU was a man from Baina, admitted last week. His was a case of chronic renal disease and has been put on dialysis. The Covid-19 hospital in Margao has one dialysis bed.
“He had a chronic kidney ailment and was put on dialysis. He had a history of fever and was admitted in the isolation ward at Chicalim hospital. When his test came positive, he was shifted to the Covid-19 hospital,” the doctor said.
When the state’s active Covid cases were in double digits, the symptomatic and asymptomatic were placed in different wards of the 220-bed Covid-19 hospital.
With active cases now touching 453, the asymptomatic once tested positive are shifted directly to the Covid care centres in Shiroda and Colva. Children, pregnant women and seniors with comorbidities, however, aren’t shifted out of the Covid hospital.