Wednesday, 28 April 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
ICU & oxygen beds unavailable in most hospitals, patients left gasping
The severe shortage of the ICU and oxygen beds in the provisional state capital of Dehradun amid an unprecedented surge in the Covid-19 cases in the last few days have created a nightmarish situation for the serious patients of the disease. Apart from catering to the patient load of the district the hospitals of Dehradun have to serve the patients of neighbouring districts and even nearby areas of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. To add to the woes of the patients gasping for breath the health department has failed to increase the number of beds in the government and private hospitals. It should be recalled that the chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat had announced on April 22 that the Coronation hospital would be made a Covid hospital and the capacity of the Covid Care Centre at Raipur cricket stadium would be increased. However due to lack of manpower and will of the officials both these announcements are yet to get realised on the ground. As per the plan 100 beds of the Coronation hospital were to be reserved for Covid patients. Similarly an oxygen concentrator was to be installed in the Tilu Rauteli Covid centre but these plans are yet to be accomplished.
The drastic Covid-19 surge in Dehradun can be understood from the fact that 7,758 cases of the disease have been reported in the last four days. The explosion in the cases has a bearing on the health infrastructure. As per the official website of the health department there was no ICU bed was available in Dehradun district on Tuesday morning. It claimed that 165 oxygen beds were available in the hospitals here. The district has 2,066 oxygen beds and 626 ICU beds. “My brother is suffering from Covid-19 and is showing complications but the authorities here have refused admission to him,’’ said a worried man belonging to Balawala. A senior doctor engaged in treating Covid-19 patients said that the government should make immediate arrangements for increase in beds with oxygen. “I have never seen such a thing in my long career. We are increasingly becoming helpless. Things are poised to become worse. Immediate steps are needed to save precious lives,’’ he said.
