With the number of COVID-19 cases steadily on the rise, and the Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, having to lower its intake of critically ill patients after having served as the single largest tertiary care facility for the disease in Ernakulam so far, the district now has to look to the Aluva District Hospital as a panacea.
The hospital is being upgraded to house 100 ICU beds in 10 cubicles, said Dr. Mathews Numpeli, district programme manager, National Health Mission. Work on making a separate entry and equipping the hospital with oxygen supply has begun, besides other civil work as part of the modification, he said.
Compared to the figures last month, the number of cases in the district, particularly that of critically ill patients, has been rising, but the facilities at the Aluva hospital, and at taluk hospitals, will be able to handle the spillover of patients from the MCH, he said.
PVS Hospital is also set to increase its intake of patients from 70 to 100 soon, said a doctor associated with its functioning. “But this is only to handle the patient load once the MCH has lowered its COVID-19 treatment capacity further. In the long term, possibly by the end of February, PVS Hospital might have to be handed over to its buyer once the matter is settled in court, and treatment facilities for seriously ill patients will be at the Aluva District Hospital when treatment at PVS comes to a halt,” the doctor said.
Health officials maintained that the administration would not stand in the way of the hospital’s take-over, in whichever way the matter plays out in legal proceedings.
