LUDHIANA: In a major improvement in the district, the number of Covid-19 patients on ventilators has fallen drastically. On three days in the past 10 days of this month, there was no patient from Ludhiana on ventilator.
The health department had started providing the data on the number of Ludhiana patients on ventilators from September 25 last year. As per the latest data, in the past 10 days, no district patient was on ventilator on January 7, 8 and 10 and only one patient each on January 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9. On remaining two days, that is January 1 and 4, two patients were on ventilators.
As per the data of the local health department, on September 25 last year, there were 1,421 active cases in the district of which 21 were on ventilators. That time, the number of ventilators in Ludhiana hospitals was 147, of which four government machines were installed at CMC Hospital.
The data suggested that the next day, 23 patients from Ludhiana were on ventilators. By October 2, when the number of active cases of the district was 1,051, as many as 19 Ludhiana patients were on ventilators.
On October 15, when the number of active cases dropped to 473, eight patients were on ventilators. Cases fell to 281 on October 31, and four patients needed ventilator support. On November 3, cases increased to 426 and eight patients went on ventilators. Cases further increased to 720 by November 13, but the number on ventilators fell to seven.
By November 30, the number of cases increased further to 879, but only two patients were on ventilator. Number of active cases in December decreased substantially to 333, and patients on ventilators in hospitals remained below five.
Civil surgeon Dr Sukhjivan Kakkar said, “It is good that the number of Ludhiana patients on ventilators has decreased. In the past some days, we didn’t have any patient on ventilator.”
Health department officials, however, said there were cases from other districts and states who were on ventilators in Ludhiana hospitals. They added that the number of such cases in the past 10 days has been below five.