44% critical care Covid beds in Bengaluru occupied

BENGALURU: Every second Covid-19 patient occupying bed allotted by the government in Bengaluru hospitals — across government, private and medical colleges — has a condition that’s moderately severe or critical, underscoring the dire need for the government to ramp up critical-care units.
As of 6am Friday, 2,803 patients occupied beds reserved for Covid. At least 49%, or 1,363, of them were admitted in ICU, ICU with ventilator or HDU (high-dependency units) or critical-care units.
While nearly 70% of the 8,724 overall Covid beds in Bengaluru are still vacant, more than 44% of the 3,093 HDU, ICU and ICU-ventilator beds are occupied. These beds are spread across 303 hospitals and 13 medical colleges, and officials said this number is dynamic and updated daily.
Govt has told hosps to increase oxygen beds, says official
Apart from the 8,724 beds identified for government allotment, there are another 17,409 with private hospitals. The government is identifying how many of them must be for critical care.
Dr Prashanth NS, assistant director, Institute of Public Health, said: “If someone is in an HDU or an ICU, then it is definitely an indication that their condition is moderately severe or critical. The need to enhance such facilities must be the focus.”
Since deaths in Bengaluru are increasing, experts argue need for such beds will be more in the coming days. Besides, officials said 2,000 people with Covid-19 are in private hospital beds, and most of them are in special care.
Tushar Girinath, head, task force to streamline bed availability and allotment in Bengaluru, said a ground-level verification process — with 16 health department teams — is under way and the details of how many of patients are in ICUs or other critical-care units will be known in the next couple of days.
The officer conceded the number of special-care beds must increase and the government has discussed the same at the top level. “The government has asked our hospitals and colleges to increase oxygenflow beds. A similar exercise will follow for private hospitals and colleges,” he added.
Blood thinners for critical patients
Dr CN Manjunath, member, Karnataka Covid-19 taskforce, said timely access to treatment for patients whose condition is critical becomes crucial in saving their lives. “The virus is not just an infection that could result in inflammation in the lungs and pneumonia. It is also resulting in clots in the lung arteries and impacting the heart too. Keeping this in mind, we have started administering blood thinners to critical patients,” Manjunath said.