West Bengal: No Covid patient at Beliaghata ID hospital for the first time since March 2020

KOLKATA: Beliaghata ID Hospital, the state’s nodal and also the first Covid -19 hospital for Bengal, has not had a positive patient for the past 24 hours. This is the first time the hospital has recorded zero Covid patient during the entire pandemic. The last three patients in its Covid ward were discharged on Wednesday.
The hospital had reported the state’s first confirmed case on March 17, 2020, when a UK-returned teenager tested positive.Since then, the hospital has had Covid patients on every single day. ID Hospital has tended to 4,958 admitted Covid patients from March 2020 to February 28, 2022
“We would be overwhelmed with patients during the waves. We would have patients, albeit in lesser numbers, during the lull periods. This is the first time we have no patient in our Covid facility during the entire pandemic,” said ID Hospital principal Anima Haldar.
“The biggest challenge during the first wave was to mobilise and motivate healthcare workers while the overwhelming number with huge oxygen requirement put us on our toes in the second wave. The lower mortality during the third wave, however, gave us a breather,” said pulmonologist Kausik Chaudhuri, nodal officer for Covid at ID Hospital.
In anticipation of the pandemic reaching Bengal anytime, the health department had roped in the likes of Chaudhuri, infectious diseases specialist Yogiraj Ray and paediatrician Raj Shekhar Maity to form a team along with the hospital’s own doctors, including chest specialist Sekhar Ranjan Paul. In addition to patient care, the hospital had also conducted many Covid- related researches.
“We would utilise this opportunity to refurbish the entire Covid ward and work on equipment maintenance. For now, all 300 beds will continue to function as Covid beds till we get further instructions from Swasthya Bhawan,” said Asis Manna Medical, superintendent and vice-principal of ID Hospital.