Nagpur: A month into second wave, beds become available for walk-in patients

NAGPUR: After over a month of acute bed shortage, many Covid hospitals in the city were a relieved lot in the last two days. Many of them are now able to admit walk-in patients, who were until now being turned away from the closed gates at every hospital as the crisis raged on over the past four weeks.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) data too showed availability of over 176 beds, including 16 in ICUs, on Thursday evening. Though over 50,000 cases were reported in last seven days, only some 500 needed admission. As on date, 9,248 patients are admitted against approximately same number of beds.
Mildly symptomatic to moderate patients staying at home, and opening of Covid Care Centres in hotels, are largely being seen as the major reasons for vacant beds. However, ICU and ventilators continue to remain full at most places. Yet, the sudden dip has baffled doctors as the district continues to report high cases. Some also warned that it may be a short-lived breather, and hospitalization rate would go up again.
GMCH medical superintendent Dr Avinash Gawande said the wait period has decreased. “From around 40, we now have 3 to 4 patients waiting in Covid casualty. We receive patients from not just the city but also neighbouring states,” he said.
Kunal Hospital director Dr Shishir Shrivastava said that there is a slight dip in patient admissions. One reason could be that patients with SpO2 around 85 are being managed at home with oxygen cylinders and oxygen concentrators. He further added that cases seem to be plateauing.
“We are able to accommodate a patient and offer him a bed comparatively easily in the last couple of days. The situation seems to have eased a bit, though ICU and ventilators still remain occupied,” he said. “Patients now rush to hospitals only when the oxygenation starts failing. For such patients, O2 support is not the only remedy, and they need to be given appropriate drugs as well. Some are going into cytokine storm at home,” he cautioned.
He said that he has noticed that patients rush to hospital in panic when the patient is in critical condition. Such delay in seeking medical help can prove detrimental to recovery. He also wondered why the dip in admission queries was not reflecting in daily case numbers.
Kingsway Hospital Covid unit head Dr Harshwardhan Bora said they are able to admit walk-in patients if they need a plain bed, has CT scan score between 10 to 12, high fever, and comorbidities. “A dip of 10% to 15% has been noticed in calls too,” he said.
Dr Bora warned that admissions are likely to surge, since as per the prediction model cases would peak only by May-end.
Seven Star Hosptial’s Dr Sadashiv Bhole said the pressure has eased but top hospitals still are under stress of critical patients. “We are getting only complicated cases. Many facilities have opened for mild to moderate patients, where 90% of them are recovering,” he said.
Dr Tushar Gawad, director administration at Alexis Multispeciality Hospital, said there is marginal decrease in queries and that too for only ward beds. “In fact, demand for ICU and ventilator beds has increased. The queries going down are probably due to opening of CCCs in hotels. Patients feel this is backdoor entry to Covid hospitals,” he said.