Shortage of beds hits Guwahati, 8 of 10 private hospitals say they are full

By: Rokibuz Zaman
GUWAHATI: If you are a Covid-19 patient in Guwahati, you may have to run around in search of beds as most private hospitals in the city are fully occupied and government hospitals have only 150 isolation beds left.
Eight of the 10 big private hospitals in and around Guwahati, that have been designated as “Dedicated Covid Health Centres” on the government’s official website (nhm.assam.gov.in/portlet-innerpage/dedicated-covid-hospitals) said they are not admitting Covid patients as beds are not available.
On enquiring about the status of beds, while some hospitals told TOI to call back on Tuesday to find out about the availability status, one hospital informed that beds would not be available for the next one week. Calls to three hospitals went unanswered.
Dr Navanil Barua, a neurosurgeon at GNRC Hospital which has around 80 Covid beds, said none are available at this point of time. “We are getting calls from several people requesting a isolation or ICU bed for Covid patients at our hospital. We regret that we are full. Even our own anaesthetist is at home waiting for a room despite the fact that she needs urgent hospitalisation. My OT staff, who have tested positive, are sleeping in the auditorium and taking care of themselves as we want to keep beds for the other patients. Covid beds everywhere are full!,” Barua wrote in a Facebook post.
Paragjyoti Dutta, general manager of Hayat Hospital said all 75 Covid beds, including 10 ICUs, are packed. “We are getting at least 20 calls daily regarding admission but here is nothing we can do about it,” she added.
Managing director of Nemcare Hospital in Guwahati Dr Hitesh Baruah said the hospital does not have any vacant beds as on Sunday. “We have about 40 Covid beds and all are occupied. Most hospitals are facing this crisis,” Baruah added. The story is not very different at Health City hospital where medical superintendent Hemjit Talukdar said all 45 beds, including 16 ICUs, are occupied.
Sources at the Assam health department said it has no jurisdiction regarding the number of beds assigned for Covid patients in the private hospitals and hence is not answerable.
The city has about 1200 Covid beds in state-run hospitals, including the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital in Guwahati. Of these, about 1,050 are occupied as on Saturday, senior health officials told TOI. However, the official said over 1,000 beds are available at various state-run Covid centres.
“We also have 500 oxygen-support beds in the city. Everybody doesn’t need an ICU. GMCH has 30 vacant Covid seats. The number is variable as lots of people are being admitted while many are being discharged at the same time. We also noted that most of the beds are occupied by out-of-city patients due to unavailability of beds in their districts,” health officials said.