Hospitals demand more beds again for non-COVID patients

Claim despite decrease in coronavirus cases, those with other ailments are unable to find beds, which are reserved for pandemic purposes; AHP wants only 50% of bed capacity for COVID-19 patients now, but officials say fresh wave of outbreak may be in offing

While the last several months of the pandemic have seen COVID-19 patients run from pillar to post to get beds in hospitals — a scenario that has only just finally improved in recent weeks — a strange twist to the tale is taking place. Now, all major facilities associated with the Association of Hospitals in Pune (AHP) have decided to approach the state health minister and state government, demanding a relaxation in the number of beds desperately acquired for the treatment of COVID-19 patients — because now, non-COVID patients are facing a crisis when it comes to finding a spot for treatment.

Due to relaxations in the lockdown, the number of patients coming in for non-COVIDrelated purposes has increased, said hospitals, leading to a shortage of beds for them. As per the AHP, at least 80 per cent of beds at each facility are reserved for COVID-19 invalids, and the remaining 20 per cent are simply not enough for the rest. Further, they also claimed that a delay in deciding on this issue may lead to similar emergency situation for non-COVID patients like that experienced by virus victims in lockdown months. AHP, which comprises over 80 members including all major hospitals from the city, had held a meeting last week to discuss this issue. Currently, the number of COVID patients has also decreased, leading to thousands of beds lying vacant at their hospitals.


Now, AHP will be writing to state health minister Rajesh Tope and other government officials to decrease the number of beds reserved for COVID patients from 80 per cent to 50 per cent. Members are also in discussion about the same topic with the hospital associations of Mumbai, Thane and Nagpur.

Elaborating on this, Ruby Hall Clinic chief executive officer (CEO) Bhomi Bhote, who serves as president of AHP, said that all medical facilities are facing this problem. “The number of COVID-19 cases has come down a lot — even the government accepts this. They are also shutting down COVID-19 facilities. We are going to write to the health minister, requesting that the number of beds reserved for COVID patients be brought down to 50 per cent of our total,” he said, adding, “We now have several oxygen support and ventilator support beds for COVID-19 patients vacant. And, there are none for non-COVID patients — in fact, there is an acute shortage of ventilator beds in all hospitals for the latter category of invalids.”

Dr HK Sale, executive director of Noble Hospital, echoed that hospitals want to increase the beds for non-COVID patients since COVID-19 case numbers are dwindling. “Many patients are our patrons since a long time and cannot just change over to another place for treatment. But, if there are no beds at the hospital, how can we treat them? We want the authorities to revoke the decision of keeping all beds acquired for COVID patients till November. Irrespective of coronavirus, all lives matter for the hospital. It makes no sense to keep beds vacant while patients suffer,” he said.

Similarly, Gopal Phadke, head of the social workers department at Jehangir Hospital, confirmed a huge waiting list of non-COVID patients and an acute shortage of beds for them. “The number of COVID-19 patients has decreased and we have enough beds for their treatment. But, there is a huge surge in patients for non-COVID conditions. Beds reserved for pandemic purposes cannot be utilised for them. Patients who have postponed surgeries, post-COVID cases and those of cardiac, neurological, renal and other issues are coming to us in large numbers. The government should give relaxations to hospital — if required, they can revoke this decision later. It must also be noted that many patients come to Pune facilities from fringe areas and other parts of the state for treatment,” he explained.

In the same vein, Dr VL Yemul, medical administrator of KEM Hospital, said, “Fortunately, we have beds available at our general ward for non-COVID patients, but these will soon get exhausted. There is not a single bed vacant in the non-COVID intensive care unit (ICU). It is difficult to manage non-COVID emergency patients who need ventilators. Due to this, all surgeries have to be planned in advance, as opposed to emergency cases.”

Weighing in on the fresh crisis, district collector Dr Rajesh Deshmukh said the decision rests with the state government, to be implemented by local bodies and the district administration. “COVID-19 patient numbers have decreased but in western countries, we have seen that after a similar decrease, a surge was reported again. No decision can be taken immediately in this regard as public health experts have told the district to expect another wave of cases. We will discuss the same with the state government and implement the decision in the district accordingly.”