KOLKATA: Hospitals across the city are witnessing the highest bed occupancy since the Covid pandemic, spurred by a spiral in dengue admissions. With occupancy ranging between 85% and 100%, hospitals have started triaging patients so that the serious ones are not denied care.
While such high occupancy is not new in government-run hospitals, often leading to refusals, some private hospitals are having to do the same for want of beds.
The pressure on hospital beds began about two weeks ago with the rising dengue cases along with other viral ailments. In some cases, hospitals are even spacing out planned surgeries, which can wait, to accommodate dengue and other patients.
“On an average, 300 to 350 beds remain occupied daily. We currently have 425 patients under our care. One of the reasons is increasing dengue patients which was around 25 even a week ago. The number is now 56,” said Sudipta Mitra, CEO, Peerless Hospital.
Even in case of 85% occupancy, the problem is that not all remaining beds are for general patients. These are earmarked for specialised treatment like that of paediatrics, cancer isolation etc which cannot accommodate other patients.
“We are witnessing the highest bed occupancy after Covid. Due to patient pressure, we are rationalising admission of patients by prioritising more serious patients,” said Ipsita Kundu, CEO of Charnock Hospital.
Ashish Mukherjee, facility director at Fortis, said the 240 beds in the hospital currently are occupied and a good number of patients are suffering from dengue, viral fever and other seasonal flu.
“We have 90% occupancy and once the occupancy crosses 80% we have to say no to some patients. For example, we cannot accommodate an adult patient in the paediatric unit if the vacancy is only in paediatric unit,” said Subhashis Datta, GM operations at Ruby General Hospital.
“Our hospital is running full since mid-August. Currently, one-fourth of the admissions are fever patients, including dengue, malaria and influenza while the rest are a mix of patients admitted primarily for cardiac procedures and surgeries in different specialities,” said Rupali Basu, MD & CEO, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital.
Many patients want to go for planned surgeries around this time before Durga Puja.
“Adding to the patient load is dengue and other viral infections,” said R Venkatesh, COO, Narayan Health (east and south region).
BP Poddar Hospital on Thursday had to refuse two dengue patients due to bed shortage. “We are giving dengue patients preference as delayed treatment can have serious repercussion,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO Belle Vue Clinic.
Start a Conversation
Post comment