Thirty-seven patients died in the past 24 hours at the COVID-19 isolation facility in Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital, according to official data released on Saturday.
The Rajindra Hospital is a tertiary care facility for COVID-19 patients from from not only Punjab but neighbouring States and the National Capital Region.
Three of the patients who died were from Delhi, eight were from Patiala, while 25 others were from various parts of Punjab. Two patients were brought dead.
“37 patients have died in the past 24 hours. Earlier this week, too, the same number of patients died in a span of 24 hours. We are seeing an unprecedented increase in patient load. The situation is twice as worrying in comparison to the last peak of COVID-19. During the last wave (mid August-September 2020), we peaked with severely patients (L3) at 90, but currently we have cumulative L3 patients at 210. We have more than twice the numbers of very severely and critically ill patients,” Surabhi Malik, Nodal Officer, Tertiary Care, Rajindra Hospital with additional charge of Additional Secretary, Medical Education and Research, told The Hindu .
“Rajindra Hospital caters to patients from outside the State as well and does not close its door to anyone. Being the L-3 facility, this hospital receives the patients in a severely sick condition and the medical staff gives them best treatment, but the severity of the disease hampers their efforts at times. Critically ill patients from parts of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are also coming to the hospital for treatment and most of these patients are already in a critical condition, resulting in deaths,” she said.
“We have enhanced the number of L-3 bed facilities to 180 from the existing 120. We have a total of 600 L-2 and L-3 COVID beds. The deaths being attributed to Patiala district include patients from other district and States,” she added.
She said that there was no shortage of space in the hospital’s mortuary and the necessary infrastructure was in place for additional need.
Punjab recorded 7,041 fresh COVID-19 cases on May 1, and reported 138 more deaths, according to a statement by the Health Department.
The number of confirmed positive cases so far have reached 3,77,990 across the State. The Health Department said the active cases number 58,229, and 3,10,601 patients have so far been cured.
