Hospitals stop coronavirus treatment as numbers decline

Vadodara: With Covid-19 showing a consistent decline in the city and district, the number of beds both available and occupied for treatment have started going down significantly as the hospitals are also looking to reduce the number of beds available for treatment.
At the peak of the pandemic, 11,089 persons were admitted in the city on May 4. Since then, the number has been on a decline consistently. This went below 7,000 on Friday. Consistent decline in hospitalisation has now become a trend and clearly hints at the wave ebbing at a significant pace.
Fearing an increase in hospitalisation in the second week of May, the bed capacity had been increased consistently. The highest was on May 11 when 14,221 beds were available for treatment. But by this time, the number of hospitalisation had gone down to below 10,000.
“Many small hospitals have stopped admitting Covid patients. There is a consistent decline in the number of patients and hence the hospitals have reduced the number of beds. Mostly those who have stopped are small hospitals,” said Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s medical officer (health) Dr Devesh Patel.
The makeshift free treatment facility at Yagnapurush Sabha Mandap in the BAPS Campus in Atladara was also stopped during the cyclonic conditions earlier this week. It has not resumed operations and no new patients may be admitted there.
An official pointed out that none of the hospitals enlisted for Covid treatment were being dropped as designated hospitals. “They will just stop admitting patients if they want to and their beds will not reflect in the portal too. They will remain on the list and if there is another wave, they can start functioning,” said the official.