KOLKATA: Three Covid waves since March 2020 have made private hospitals in Kolkata battle-ready to take on another surge and they now have the expertise, infrastructure and the experience to set up a Covid ward quicker than ever before, they say.
The two reported cases of XE - the new Covid variant - from Mumbai, however, are not yet making them expand their Covid wards that have either been reconverted into general ones or squeezed drastically last month. Hospital authorities, however, said they were keeping an eye on the situation and will follow government instructions.
At least 10 private hospitals had doubled their Covid capacity in two-three days when the third wave struck last December. The expansion process, however, had been far slower during the second wave a year ago that saw more hospitalizations and casualties.
"The second wave was a bitter experience and we had not expected it to be so virulent. Even before we could expand our Covid unit, hundreds registered for admission. The sheer number of patients seeking a bed was so big that it wasn't possible to accommodate even a fifth of them," said Peerless CEO Sudipta Mitra.
But the lessons were quickly learnt and the hospital requisitioned equipment and set up 47 Covid ITUs. It had 195 Covid patients at the height of the second wave but it took more than a fortnight to accommodate them. "During the third wave, we set up three wards in four-five days and accommodated 95 patients. There was no bed crisis since we acted quickly and admissions were fewer," added Mitra. Peerless now has four Covid beds that will be maintained.
At the peak of the second wave, RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) had around 230 beds with 115 critical care ones. The third wave saw RTIICS set up 103 beds with 49 critical care beds, which was 50% of its second wave capacity. "Almost half the patients during the second wave needed critical care and we were not ready for the situation. It took us time to procure monitors, ventilators and oxygen. Once we had that and identified the areas for expansion, things became easy. We can now have a Covid set up in two-three days," said RTIICS zonal head R Venkatesh.
Charnock Hospital, which had 330 Covid beds during the second wave and 80 during the third, has not yet decided on reviving its Covid ward that was withdrawn in February and replaced with two beds in an isolation unit. "We will see how things go and then prepare our infrastructure accordingly," said CEO Prashant Sharma.
AMRI has withdrawn its Covid beds but is ready to set up a ward in three-four days. Across its three units, AMRI had 300 patients during the second wave and 150 during the third. "We now have the infrastructure and the experience to set up a Covid ward in three-four days," said AMRI CEO Rupak Barua.
