The Government General Hospital, the largest and one of the oldest teaching hospitals in the State, and also the State COVID Hospital, is reeling under the heavy load of patients, and evidently has been in the news for all wrong reasons for over two months.
The shocking images of bodies abandoned by their families lying at the mortuary, the mysterious case of a man who was admitted and went missing, and finally, his body being traced at mortuary and an episode where a nurse had allegedly deferred the administration of vaccine to an infant, have put the GGH in a poor light.
Of the 1,267 beds, 568 beds are dedicated to COVID patients in the old block. The block appeared to be fairly handling cases till the end of lockdown, but the spike in the number of cases during the unlock phase has put it under enormous strain.
The GGH and NRI Hospital and Katuri Hospital, also State COVID Hospitals, are handling the majority of the patients. The hospitals together have about 2,000 beds. Guntur district has reported over 13,000 cases so far.
GGH Superintendent K. Sudhakar told The Hindu that there is a severe shortage of doctors. “It’s about 30 % and doctors can be on put duty only for a week at a stretch. The Class IV employees are under tremendous pressure and a GO making SSC the minimum qualification for applicants is further hampering our efforts,’’ he added.
Multiple issues
The problem begins with the testing of samples being done on the first floor of the super-speciality block. With a single registration counter and a swab collection point, testing is delayed by hours. The staff are under enormous pressure.
A single triage centre is hardly sufficient to handle the enormous load and the lack of testing facilities meant that most people had to come to the GGH. There are 10 beds allotted for the triage centre and since most of the patients report with respiratory problem, they are immediately placed under oxygen support.
“We need more doctors and paramedical staff in these emergency times. There are lot of medical graduates who have emerged from the portals of medical colleges in Russia and China and the government can enlist their services for some time,’’ said a senior medical professional.