Reza Mahmud :
Covid-19 patients’ pressures on general beds for admission in the dedicated hospitals in the capital came down slightly though the outcry for ICU seats are continues, sources said.
Sources from Covid-19 dedicated hospitals said, patients created enormous pressures for admissions in general beds and ICUs from mid March to mid April.
Meanwhile, in the past several days, the pressures came down slightly as the infection rate also fell.
“We had to face serious humanitarian situation in the last few days. In these circumstances, we had admitted more patients beyond our bed capacity. We accommodated the extra patients by setting beds in the open spaces of wards and trying our utmost to take care of them with medical services. But today (Tuesday) 139 general beds have remained vacant,” Dr. Asim Kumar Nath, Director of the hospital, told The New Nation on Tuesday.
He said this data shows that the pressures of Covid-19 patients are easing now.
In a spot visit on April 10, it was found that that there were 329 beds dedicated for the Covid-19 patients while 335 patients were admitted. They admitted six patients beyond capacity.
Besides, the 19 ICU beds were found full with the severely ill Covid patients.
“All of our 180 general beds and 20 ICU beds are full. If one patient is released from a general bed, we see a struggle to get the vacant seat,” Brigadier General Dr. Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin, Director of the BSMMU Hospital told The New Nation on the mid April.
But the data of the Directorate General of Health Services released on Tuesday showed that about 48 general beds of the BSMMU hospital remained empty.
The latest data of the DGHS showed that about 1297 general beds remained empty out of the 3523 beds while 2226 patients took admission in 16 government covid-19 dedicated hospitals in and surrounding the capital with newly included DNCC covid-19 dedicated hospital, Zinzira 20 beds hospital, Khanpur 300 beds hospital, Narayangonj and Shahid Tajuddin Medical College Hospital, Gazipur.
Meanwhile, only Kurmitola General Hospital is facing additional pressures of patients. As a result it has admitted 348 general beds patients which was far beyond its bed capacity of 275 for such treatment.
Besides, ICU beds were nearing full. In the day time data of the DGHS showed that 174 seriously ill patients were admitted in the 16 government hospitals of 220 ICU beds showing 46 of those remaining vacant.
But sources, said the ICU beds were not blank for hours.
“While the DGHS was compiling data, the ICU beds of several hospitals became occupied as struggle continues for getting a bed,” said an official of BSMMU hospital preferring anonymity.
