No beds: Bengaluru hospitals turn away Covid-19 patients

The rainy evening saw a flurry of arrivals at St John's Hospital in Bengaluru on Thursday. Ambulances drew up one after another while some patients seeking Covid-19 care were brought in cars. But all were turned away with the same response: "No beds".

On an average, more than 40 people — who have either tested positive or are suspected cases — are being refused admission in a day. "We are turning away five to seven patients every hour standing at the door," said a doctor from St John's Hospital, who did not want to be named.

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One patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with acute respiratory distress syndrome, was turned away on Wednesday night. The doctors at St John's had called 10 other hospitals, but none of them had beds.

Dr Mary Varghese, Assistant Medical Superintendent, St John's Hospital, said they cannot treat so many patients unless corporate hospitals share the burden. "We are running at full capacity for the past two weeks now. Patients are coming in very sick condition. We do not have manpower to upgrade bed capacity. For 10 patients, we need at least one nurse for six hours."

Another doctor, requesting anonymity, said that a helpline to shift patients is the need of the hour. "We don't know where to refer them. The BBMP has given us a list of hospitals but when we call them, they say beds are full."

Covid-19 suspects are as much the government's responsibility as positive cases. However, Tushar Girinath, head of the task force to streamline bed availability and allotment in Bengaluru, minced no words. He said virus suspects have to approach fever clinics or hospitals themselves. "Once we get a Covid-19 positive report from the ICMR portal, we will allot an ambulance. Covid-19 suspects have to approach hospitals themselves," he said.

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The government's rule that the patient should not be given the test report is compounding the problem. Covid-19 suspects are being turned away as they do not have a positive report.

Dr Deepak Balani, Chief of Medial Services, Sakra World Hospital, said they have 40 Covid-19 beds including eight ICU beds and four ventilators. "On an average, we are turning away 30 patients every day," he said.

Deepak Venugopalan, regional COO, Manipal Hospitals, said, "There are 85 Covid patients being treated across our three branches. Our Malleshwaram unit reserved for Covid-19 became operational today (Thursday). The government has to refer patients there. Each patient is allotted a BU (Bangalore Urban) number in the system and also his/her report is sent to the hospital."

When tech fails

Currently, officials are manually updating a spreadsheet every two hours with bed availability. Software is being developed by the state Covid-19 war room to track real-time availability of beds and the location of the ambulance, which will take four more days. But doctors are aghast that the Silicon Valley of the country will all its technological prowess does not have IT professionals to fast-track this process.