Sharp rise in number of Covid ICU patients in Bengaluru in just a week

Second wave? Hospitals begin to feel pressure as novel coronavirus infections resurface

The demand for Covid-19 ICU beds has risen sharply since last Friday, according to officials from the state health department and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

As per the data, a statewide increase in ICU usage started to be noticed from March 12 and has so far continued to March 18, when the number of ICU patients in total in the state rose to 127 on any given day, up from the average of 114 patients which had been registered in the previous 11 days.

Many of the increases were in districts such as Kalaburagi and Bidar, which have been singled out for increased vigilance due to their higher than average case fatality rate and daily case numbers. On Thursday, 131 people were announced to be in the ICU, including 15 in Kalaburagi and 51 in Bengaluru Urban, as per official data.

'Demand rising daily'

"Day by day, there has been an increased demand for ICU for Covid-19 patients, especially at Victoria Hospital," said Dr Smitha Segu, the nodal officer for Covid-19 at Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI). Officials said that while a majority of ICU cases were senior citizens, about 30 per cent were people between the age of 25 and 45.

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"In Bengaluru, we started to notice increased demand in the last three days," explained Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner (Health), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

He added that the number of symptomatic cases is roughly between 10 per cent-15 per cent. "At present, we have 61 ICU beds and 49 ICU beds with ventilators across seven government hospitals in the city where Covid-19 ICU admissions are happening. Out of these, 34 beds are vacant for various reasons," Cholan said.

Consequently, Cholan said, the BBMP has asked the state government to increase the number of ICU beds in a bid to be prepared if there is a spike in cases.

Much of the increased demand for beds comes from the number of cases being found per day, explained Dr C N Manjunath, the state nodal officer for testing.

"Initially, from mid-January onward, the number of overall cases was coming down so the demands on ICU also were low. Now, the situation is changing," he said.

Some pressure on ICUs is due to private hospitals sending critically ill patients to the government centres. "This usually happens if a patient’s condition is critical or if a patient is unable to pay the bill at the private hospital," Dr Manjunath said.