With roughly 7,500 people or nearly 25% of the active COVID-19 cases in the Greater Chennai Corporation in hospitals, the civic body is pushing for effective triaging to prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed.
Of the roughly 14,000 beds available in both government and private hospitals, more than half are occupied now. These include COVID-19 hospitals, which are meant for severe COVID-19 cases and Dedicated COVID-19 Health Centres (DCHC), which deal with moderate illness. In the five government COVID-19 hospitals in particular, nearly 80% of the 4,368 available beds are occupied.
When 6,118 beds in COVID-19 hospitals and DCHCs in the government sector are considered together, the occupancy was around 70%. Of the roughly 7,900 beds available in private COVID-19 hospitals and DCHCs, around 40% are occupied.
As officials expect the present trend of sharp growth in COVID-19 cases to continue for the next couple of weeks at least, it is likely that hospitals will reach full capacity.
The number of active cases in Chennai as on Saturday stood at 31,506. This was an increase of 119% from the 14,382 cases two weeks ago.
In the event of active cases doubling again in the next two weeks and if the proportion of cases under hospitalisation remain the same as present, the city will be running short of beds with its existing capacity. However, a senior official from the Corporation said the active cases were unlikely to double in two weeks as the number of recoveries had also increased sharply. He pointed out that the number of active cases getting added daily had come down in the past two days. Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash told The Hindu on Friday that a considerable number of people who were in hospitals at the moment did not require hospitalisation as their symptoms were mild.
“The Health and Family Welfare Department has instructed private hospitals to triage and avoid admitting those who do not need hospitalisation. By doing so, a person actually in need may not get a bed,” he said.
“We want those who are testing positive to first approach screening centres, where the severity of the illness will be assessed and accordingly, they will be sent to hospitals or COVID-19 Care Centres or for home quarantine,” he said.
Twelve screening centres have been set up by the Corporation for triaging those who test positive. This would be increased to 30, with at least two per zone, in the coming days, officials said.