SLUG: Fighting on many fronts
Nagpur: The Trauma Centre attached to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) last year did near normal non-Covid work despite being designated as a Covid-19 hospital. The centre, whose building is still reserved for Covid-19 patients, is functioning from a makeshift set-up in ward no. 26, 28 and 29 of GMCH.
“It was expected that non-Covid surgeries, trauma cases and admissions will go down significantly during the pandemic year. But we handled near 80% cases in 2020 as compared to the previous year. Overall death rate of trauma patients also reduced to 11%. It was 20% in 2019,” said Dr Mohd Faizal, in-charge of Trauma Centre.
As expected, the overall admissions to the centre reduced by near 40% last year as compared to 2019. But as against 1,218 trauma procedures in 2019, the centre performed 955 in 2020, which is a decline of just 20%. These include 364 orthopaedic surgeries, 324 neurosurgeries and 165 general surgeries.
“Despite the Covid threat, the centre did a fairly good job in saving serious patients using all available resources and manpower. In fact, we handled more cases and performed more surgeries in the first three months of 2020. But then, lockdown began and we faced limitations,” said Dr Faisal.
Interestingly, from January to March 2020, the centre handled more than 350 patients per month, which means about 11 patients daily. Nearly half of the patients needed surgeries during this period. As soon as lockdown was enforced in March, admissions reduced to 55 in April, but 34 of them needed surgeries. In May, 56 out of 91 patients needed trauma procedures. Only 12 deaths were reported in these two months.
“During stricter lockdown in April and May, fewer but critically injured patients reached the centre. Reduced death rate is an indicator that they received timely and correct treatment,” said a senior official of GMCH.
Comparative figures
Year
Admissions
Deaths
Procedures
2019
4,161
838
1,218
2020
2,498
276
955
- Admissions reduced by 40%, but trauma surgeries only by 21%
- This suggests trauma cases reduced but most were of serious kind
- Still, death rate reduced up by 67% as compared to 2019