‘Take patients to government hospitals’

Adequate number of beds available in government hospitals for COVID patients and suspects, say officials

With increasing movement of public for livelihood there is likely to be a surge in cases of coronavirus infection. Citizens continue to be careful and cautious by wearing masks in Hyderabad.

From the past a few days, distress calls from people who are not able to find a bed in corporate hospitals for their family member with COVID-19 or suspected of it, has increased. Officials from the Telangana Health department said that adequate number of beds are available in government COVID designated hospitals.

They have urged people to opt for government hospitals and not to waste money, more importantly, crucial time in running from one corporate hospital to another. Doctors at Osmania General Hospital said that a lot of suspects are brought in critical condition after spending considerable time waiting for a bed in corporate hospital, leaving them less time to save the patients.

Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao said that of the 2501 beds available at four COVID designated health facilities — Gandhi Hospital, Fever Hospital, Government General and Chest Hospital, and District Hospital-King Koti — 1,034 were occupied. “So 1,467 beds are vacant,” Dr. Rao said.

He said that they will ramp up tests too by using CBNAAT and TrueNat in erstwhile districts.

Where to go

There have been situations where patients and suspects were clueless about which government hospital to go for admission.

Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy said that COVID-19 patients with mild to severe symptoms have to go to Gandhi Hospital.

People suspected of COVID-19 and who have respiratory distress have to go to Osmania General Hospital. The suspects with mild respiratory distress or other COVID symptoms can opt for District Hospital in King Koti. These directions might be displayed at the hospitals in coming days.

Besides the four COVID designated hospitals in the city, Dr. Reddy said that Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) will become fully operational from next week. Health Minister Eatala Rajender on June 24 had announced that in-patients will be admitted from June 29.

‘Cases to increase’

The Director of Public Health said that the cases are set to increase. He said that after lockdown is lifted, movement of people increased for livelihood which led to increase in cases as coronavirus cannot be stopped.

Dr. Reddy said that when cases are increasing, focus should be on patient care — facilities at hospitals and treatment provided to patients. The senior official said that the State is in a comfortable position as they started to focus on these aspects from January.

As Oxygen is crucial for treatment of COVID-19 patients, nearly 3,000 beds in government hospitals are provided with oxygen ports. Only a few patients need ventilators, they explained.