Private hospitals short of ICU beds in Patiala district

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 30

Private hospitals in the district are running short of ICU beds. According to the district administration, 97 per cent ICU beds in private hospitals have been occupied.

Of a total of 60 ICU beds in private hospitals, only two were vacant this evening.

The district administration said they had got the number the ICU beds increased in private hospitals and were working hard to enhance it further.

It was learnt that the district administration and the Health Department were getting harsh on the already strained private hospitals to increase the number of beds. The private hospitals are said to have been upset over the issue of increasing ICU beds. The authorities said increasing the number of beds overnight was not possible because it required infrastructure and manpower.

A doctor at a private hospital said: “To run ICU facilities, a hospital needs ventilators, manpower and space. It cannot be arranged overnight.”

Confirming the crunch in the district, the Patiala Civil Surgeon, Dr Satinder Singh, said the private hospitals were being asked to increase the number of ICU beds. “Two or three more private healthcare centres, which have ICU beds, have been given permission to admit Covid patients, which will increase the number of ICU beds in the district.”

Meanwhile, Government Rajindra Hospital is also running short of Covid ICU beds. The hospital authorities claimed that they had increased the number of beds from 120 to 180. However, all ICU beds are said to have been occupied at hospital.

Covid deaths at Rajindra Hospital continue to be high

The daily death toll at the Covid isolation wing of the Government Rajindra Hospital continues to rise. Around 26 Covid patients, including three suspected patients, had died at the hospital over the past 24 hours. Of the 26 victims, only seven were from Patiala and 16 belonged to the other districts of the state.