Major government hospitals in the city, over the past few weeks, have been stepping up their oxygen-supported bed capacity to meet the needs of an increasing number of patients who require oxygen.
Be it beds with oxygen supply from a central line or those with oxygen concentrator support, hospitals have been ramping up infrastructure in the available space, as COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen support continue to pour in.
The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) has now added 136 oxygen-supported beds on the seventh floor of tower-3 — the designated COVID-19 block. With this, the hospital now has 1,914 beds — 1,242 oxygen-supported beds, 280 with oxygen concentrators and 393 non-oxygen ones.
“The aim of establishing a new ward with 136 oxygen points was to de-congest ambulances that bring in patients. Of the 136 beds, 106 have oxygen concentrators,” E. Theranirajan, Dean of RGGGH, said. As of Friday, the hospital had 1,303 patients on oxygen support. The average duration of hospitalisation of a patient requiring oxygen support is five to seven days.
The Government Stanley Medical College Hospital recently added 550 oxygen-supported beds, M.A. Aravind, professor of paediatrics and in-charge of oxygen beds, said.
“As on date, we have 2,000 beds, of which 1,550 are oxygen-supported ones — 1,200 with supply from oxygen lines and 350 with oxygen concentrator support. These include 150 beds from intensive care units. We are planning to add 250 oxygen-supported beds and 100 triage beds in a week,” he said.
It was mainly patients requiring oxygen support who were approaching tertiary care centres like the hospital, he said. “Our zero-delay ward is full of patients on oxygen,” he said.
R. Jayanthi, Dean of the Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, said the hospital had 860 oxygen-supported beds. “We are adding 120 oxygen beds on the seventh floor with central oxygen supply. We also have temporary shelters that will have 150 beds with oxygen concentrator support,” she said.
Similarly, the Government Corona Hospital, Guindy, has added 100 oxygen beds, its Director K. Narayanasamy said. “The hospital has 450 oxygen beds, ” he said.
Senior doctors said while bed capacity was being increased in hospitals, there was a need for more specialist doctors, particularly anaesthetists and physicians (internal medicine).
