Kolkata private hospitals shake off Covid blues as admissions touch pre-pandemic levels

KOLKATA: Occupancy across Kolkata’s private hospitals has been steadily spiralling ever since the third wave ebbed in February and has now reached its highest level since the onset of the pandemic in March, 2020. Most hospitals have an average occupancy of 80%-90%, which has never been achieved in the last two years. It could rise further over the next few weeks as more patients from Bangladesh start coming in, hospitals say.
At AMRI Hospitals, occupancy has touched 550 across its three units at Dhakuria, Salt Lake and Mukundapur — the same as the pre-pandemic level — and outpatient footfall has crossed the pre-pandemic numbers. “We are now getting around 1,400 patients at the OPD daily while we received around 1,100 till the pandemic started. With the Covid fear gone, many have resumed treatment both indoors and at the OPD. We expect the numbers to rise further since many had been forced to suspend treatment over the last two years,” said CEO Rupak Barua.
AMRI is also conducting more surgeries than it did before the pandemic. “The number of surgeries has reached 1,600 a month across our units, up from 1,200-1,400 before Covid,” added Barua.
At Peerless Hospital, the number of admitted patients has spiralled up to 350, the highest since March, 2020. The hospital would have an average occupancy of around 380 till the pandemic.
“At the peak of the second wave last April-May, we had around 190 Covid patients and a few non-Covid ones. This was the highest occupancy we had since 2020 till the number of non-Covid patients started rising in March. Over the last two months, we have reached almost 95% of our pre-Covid occupancy. With Bangladeshi patients returning, we hope to cross the pre-pandemic figure,” said CEO Sudipta Mitra.
R N Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) has an occupancy of nearly 80% with more than 470 patients admitted now.
Hospitals: Expect occupancy to rise further
Occupancy at most private hospitals in the city has reached its highest since March 2020 while footfall at OPDs are even higher than pre-pandemic levels. At R N Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS), occupancy is nearly 80%. “This is by far the highest since the pandemic. Outpatient numbers have also reached its peak with more than 1,200 patients daily at the OPD,” said RTIICS zonal head R Venkatesh. Post-pandemic, Woodlands Hospital has regained a steady occupancy of 80%. “Some weeks, it had reached 85%. Our average OPD footfall has touched 325 per day since March, having increased by 60% post-pandemic,” said Rupali Basu, managing director & CEO, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital.
Medica Superspecialty Hospital, however, hasn’t yet been able to recover like the rest. While the hospital had an average occupancy of 350 till the pandemic, it has now reached around 260. “OPD numbers, too, are rising slowly. It could take another month for us to reach the pre-2020 stage,” said chairperson Alok Roy. At CMRI Hospital, bed occupancy has gone up to around 280 from around 220 in March. “The number has been steadily increasing ever since Covid cases started decreasing in February. We expect occupancy to cross 300 soon,” said CK Birla Hospitals CEO Simmerdeep S Gill.