Hospitals stare at bed crisis with surge in pneumonia, COPD cases

Kolkata: A surge in pneumonia and COPD patients has left several private hospitals close to full occupancy, leading to a potential bed crisis as lung diseases are on the rise. This situation has forced some hospitals to add beds and use additional space to accommodate those suffering from flare-ups of COPD and related ailments like asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

At CMRI Hospital, the respiratory ICU is fully occupied with 35 patients admitted and several more in the queue. "We have around 65 lung disease patients admitted, the majority having pneumonia. COPD and exacerbations of asthma and bronchitis follow closely. This is worrying since we are merely at the beginning of winter, and the number of patients could spiral," said CMRI pulmonology head, Raja Dhar.


Two to three patients have been testing positive for pneumonia at Peerless Hospital every day, pushing occupancy to 85%. "Most have bacterial pneumonia triggered by Klebsiella, Haemophilus, and Streptococcus. Patients have moderate to severe infections," said Peerless chief microbiologist, Bhaskar Narayan Chaudhuri.

Occupancy has also spiked due to a rise in the number of elective surgeries. "Most prefer to have planned surgeries at this time of the year, pushing up occupancy. The situation has worsened due to a surge in pneumonia and lung diseases. This will continue since temperature fluctuations are ongoing. We are very close to full occupancy," said Peerless Hospital CEO, Sudipta Mitra.

Charnock Hospital has 35 patients admitted with pneumonia and COPD, including 10 in ICU. "There has been a major surge in lung ailments due to the dip in temperature. We have seen an unusual rise in pneumonia admissions. The common symptoms are persistent, high fever and dry cough. Some have chest pain. Most have bacterial pneumonia. Those with comorbidities like diabetes and cardiac diseases have been admitted," said Soumya Sengupta, in charge of pulmonology at Charnock.

Charnock has reached almost full capacity with 170 occupied beds. Over the past week, COPD cases have shown a noticeable surge at the Chest Clinic of BP Poddar Hospital. "I see nearly 10 patients each day with COPD-related symptoms such as breathlessness, persistent cough, and wheezing," said Abhishek Kolay, consultant pulmonologist, BP Poddar.

Critical care units and HDU are fully occupied at Ruby General Hospital. "We are refusing patients. The bed scarcity has been triggered by a rise in respiratory patients," said general manager – operations, Subhashish Datta.

Almost 30% of patients at BP Poddar have COPD and related respiratory conditions. "Out of our total ITU and HDU occupancy, 23 patients have severe COPD," said Supriyo Chakrabarty, group advisor, BP Poddar Hospital.