Nagpur: In a reversal of trend, tertiary care hostipals in city are witnessing shortage of beds due to sudden rush of non-Covid emergencies and patients who had held back elective surgeries and routine medical management thus far.
Prominent private hospitals are forced to issue a waitlist of at least two days to patients coming in from with city, district places and entire Central India in the last 10 days.
Private hospital doctors told TOI that generally such rush is not seen during December-end when people are in party mood or plan surgeries after the New Year vacation.
As people already had a prolonged vacation period in the form of lockdown, this time is being now utilized to go under the knife. Joint and knee replacement, cardiac surgeries, hernia, cataract and other elective procedures have picked up pace.
Though many hospitals are running full because of non-Covid work, doctors say the patient flow is yet to reach pre-Covid levels. This is because hospitals still have a good number of beds reserved for Covid patients though not many positive patients need hospitalization. Some hospitals are diverting vacant Covid beds to non-Covid for smooth management.
Neurosurgeon and CMD of Meditirna Institute of Medical Sciences Dr Sameer Paltewar said non-Covid medical work has certainly increased but non-Covid surgical procedures have not yet reached pre-lockdown period. “I feel people are still fearful and delaying surgeries. Patients of community-acquired pneumonia, vascular thrombosis, brain stroke patients are rapidly increasing,” he said.
Dr Sadashiv Bhole, one of the directors of Seven Star, said they have sufficient workforce to deal with the sudden rush. “We have over 100 non-Covid beds and workforce help manage the affairs without causing trouble to patients. Patients of abdominal pain, gynaecology and obstetrics emergencies, trauma, general surgery, urology, and ophthalmology have increased,” he said.
Senior hospital administrator at Alexis Hospital Dr Tushar Gawad said all of their 120 beds are full and some patients have to be put on one or two day waitlist. “70% of our patients are from city only while 30% are from Madhya Pradesh. In last 10 days, all beds are running full,” he said.
Dr Sushrut Babhulkar, director of Sushrut Hospital, said though all types orthopaedic patients are coming, people needing planned surgeries are still fearful.
Dr Anup Marar, OCHRI director, said, “Patients who had till now tried their best to stay away from travel and hospitals by attending our teleconsultation services are now resuming their trips to hospitals. The maximum bed occupancy in Nagpur Hospitals is due to patients from MP and other surrounding districts.”
A senior doctor at Super Specialty Hospital (SSH) said angioplasty and angiography have reached only 50% of pre-Covid level. “We expect complete resumption in next few months. Annually, we do 600 to 700 angioplasties. This year, only 350 have been done. The numbers picked up lately,” the doctor said.