Maternity hospital in Hyderabad's Petlaburj emerges as COVID-19 hotspot

HYDERABAD: The State government’s tertiary-care maternity hospital at Petlaburj in Old City has become a COVID-19 hotspot. As many as 18 doctors and 14 support staff have tested positive for Coronavirus till now which is sending shock waves across the medical fraternity. No one knows how many more will test positive, going forward.

The hospital attends to expecting mothers who have severe complications, referred from all corners of Telangana and from neighbouring states. As patients are brought in a serious condition, the doctors, on their arrival, find little time to take precautions against COVID-19. 

This has rendered doctors vulnerable to the infection. When it comes to complicated C-section surgeries, doctors perform operations for nearly one-and-a-half hours. As pregnant women are susceptible to COVID-19, they might unwittingly transmit the infection. "This is a risk we have to take even though we wear PPEs inside the OP," a doctor states.

Though the hospital, of late, has been provided with sufficient PPEs, doctors sometimes ignore wearing them during emergencies.  The hospital is now handling an unprecedented rush of patients. "We treat about 50 patients a day at the hospital, though we are understaffed," the doctor says, adding that though the bed strength of the hospital is 450, about 1,200 patients are in the hospital. "We are using some vacant rooms in our hospital to cope with the rush," the doctor informs. 

The pre-lockdown rush used to be about 40 patients per day. The hospital has six units of doctors. Though the support staff is adequate in number, doctors feel they need more hands. The out-patient wing is another rich source of COVID-19. Earlier, doctors used to examine 400 to 800 patients a day. "We are now seeing only 100 patients a day, that too those who are in advanced stage of pregnancy," the source said.