At ₹6 lakh for 3 days, city hospitals bleed patients dry

At ₹6 lakh for 3 days, city hospitals bleed patients dry

Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.05.2021

Anil Kumar Gupta, 66, spent ₹6 lakh for three days treatment of his Covid-positive son in two small private hospitals in the Nanganallur area. But his son couldn’t be saved. The patient had a heart issue too and the smaller hospitals weren’t equipped to deal with it. They told Gupta to take his son to a bigger hospital, but not before both hospitals made him pay ₹1 lakh deposit and another ₹1.5 lakh as treatment charges. All they did was give him a bed, Gupta told TOI.

“Another son is recovering in one of the private hospitals. I understand the situation is bad but hospitals and doctors I met behaved very rudely. One even pushed me out of his hospital,” Gupta said.

Sathish M* from Pursawalkam said two of his family members were admitted to a small private hospital. “They spoke about packages and said they would charge from insurance for eight days. Though my son could have been discharged on the seventh day, they delayed it. At a time when people are searching for beds, I didn’t find this humane, “ he said.

“Also, they charged separately for rooms, PPE kits and doctors fees though my son and my mother were in the same room. This came to more than ₹1 lakh extra,” he added.

Radhika R, of OMR, said she was charged for oxygen though she didn’t require it. “Moreover, they make us run around to buy medicines,” she said.

Sathish G, a social activist from OMR, said his friend in Adambakkam paid ₹1.5 lakh as miscellaneous charges for three days of hospitalization. “It wasn’t even an oxygen bed,” he said.

When TOI tried to contact the five private hospitals mentioned by these patients, three didn’t respond. Representatives of two hospitals, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had no choice but to charge more as they had stopped all other surgeries and converted almost 80% of their beds for Covid patients. “I agree paying ₹1 lakh a day is too much. That needs to stop. But hospitals are desperate to earn. The government fixed ceiling of ₹15,000 a day will not cover our expenses. We cannot run at a loss,” said one of the doctors of a private hospital.

Director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayam and state health secretary J Radhakrishnan told TOI that they would take action on complaints that are formally lodged.

A senior health official told TOI that they were walking a tightrope. “We cannot crackdown on hospitals like we did last year as we don’t have enough beds. If we have 10,000 beds ready for patients, we can act. But we want private hospitals to increase their facilities and create more oxygen beds. So it is a tricky situation,” he said.

Suburban trains only for frontline, essential workers

Suburban trains only for frontline, essential workers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

As lockdown restrictions have been made stringent, Southern Railway has decided not to allow the general public, including students, to travel by suburban trains till May 20. Frontline workers and those employed in essential services sector are allowed to board the trains after showing their identity cards. The move will affect several people who work in nonessential sectors and depend on suburban trains to reach their workplaces in Chennai.

The railways has decided to restrict the category of people who can use the trains as the state government has announced that buses and trains should be run with 50% of occupancy.

A statement from the railways said railway staff, authorized essential services staff such as health, law and order, sanitation workers, municipal corporation workers, staff of all Centre, state government departments and PSUs, staff of the Madras high court judicial bodies and quasi-judicial bodies including lawyers, travel and logistics workers including those in Chennai Port Trust, Kamarajar Port Trust, staff of e-commerce companies on duty, print and electronic media, staff of nationalized, private and co-operative banks, and staff of private security agencies will be allowed to travel by the trains.

Students and staff of educational institutions, which remain closed, will not be permitted to take the trains.

Counters will be set up to sell reserved and unreserved tickets with 50% of staff, though people are encouraged to book tickets online.

K Baskar, former member, divisional rail users consultative committee, said this move puts jobs at risk. “People who work in private companies will lose their jobs if they cannot reach office. Those Many passengers who live in the suburbs use suburban trains to reach Arakkonam, MGR Central, Egmore and Tambaram stations to board mail/express trains. They should be allowed to use the services.”

BARE MINIMUM: All frontline workers, essential services staff will have to show their identity cards to board trains

New Covid restrictions in force from today

REINING IN COVID

New Covid restrictions in force from today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

The state government’s new set of restrictions to contain the spread of virus will come into force from 4am on May 6. Public transport, railways, metro rail, public and private buses and cabs will be allowed to operate at a maximum capacity of 50%.

The standalone grocery and vegetable shops will be permitted till 12 noon without air conditioning facility. Only 50% customers will be allowed at a time. A separate order issued by the government said the differently-abled will be fully exempted from attending office during the 15-day period.

All other shops, other than grocery and vegetable shops will remain closed. The big format shops in an area of 3,000sq ft and above, shopping complexes and malls have already been prohibited to function since April 26 onwards. The grocery and vegetable shops in shopping complexes and malls are also not permitted.

As per the order issued by the state government on Monday, the state government/public sector undertakings-run outlets will be permitted between 8am and 12 noon, while pharmacies, supply of milk and other essential services will continue as usual. Take away service alone will be permitted in all restaurants, hotels, bakeries, and mess from 6am to 10am, 12 noon to 3pm and 6pm to 9pm. Tea shops will be permitted to operate till 12 noon. The government also prohibited social/political/sports/entertainment/academic/cultural/festival gathering in open and closed spaces. Cinema theatres will remain shut.

In an order on Wednesday, chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan said that all offices of governments will function with 50% workforce for a fortnight beginning Thursday. The secretaries to governments, heads of departments, the district collectors will have to have an attendance schedule, either on alternate days or once in three days or as per the requirements based on the workload. “Notwithstanding the above alternate working system, the staff on off-duty will attend office if called for any point of time,” the order said. Private offices also will have to function with 50% workforce.

TN reports 23,310 new cases of Covid-19; 6,291 in Chennai

TN reports 23,310 new cases of Covid-19; 6,291 in Chennai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

All districts in the state reported more than 100 cases on Wednesday, when Tamil Nadu added167 deaths and 23,310 new Covid-19 cases. This is the highest number of cases and deaths reported by the state since the beginning of the pandemic.

There were 1,28,311 patients in the active registry after hospitals discharged 20,062 patients. The case tally since March 2020 moved to 12.7 lakh and the cumulative death toll touched 14,779.

While hotspot Chennai reported 6,291 new cases (the highest in the state), Ariyalur and Perambalur -- the two districts that were reported fewer than 50 cases a day so far -- reported 112 and 114 cases respectively (the lowest ) on Wednesday. With 2,029 new cases Coimbatore, reported the highest number of cases after Chennai. There were 1755 new cases in Chengalpet and 1385 cases in Tiruvallur. Madurai reported 914 cases.

Overall at least 20 districts reported deaths. Chennai reported 58 deaths – also the maximum in the state, and Chengalpet district followed with 10. This included 10 from the Chengalpet Medical College and Hospital but these excluded the 13 deaths reported between Tuesday and Wednesday following dip in oxygen was not reported in the media bulletin. While Kanyakumari, Ranipet and Madurai reported two deaths each, Salem reported seven and Vellore reported six.

Health department officials said that the centre has still not revised the 280 MT of oxygen allotted to the state although the state’s requirement has increased to 420MT. The state has a capacity of producing 400 MT and has been drawing about 50MT from Puducherry and diverting another 50MT from industries, officials said. “We are pushing the centre to increase allocation to the state. This is something they agreed to do more than a week ago,” a senior official said.

While there were 52,992 active cases in the Chennai region, the other districts in the north reported 1874 new cases. The eight districts in the west together had 25634 active cases followed by 24054 cases in the South. The central region together reported 2,226 cases. Deaths in all the four zone have also gone up –north districts together had 107 deaths while south reported 27, West had 12 and Central districts together logged 27. Meanwhile, 56203 people took the vaccine on Wednesday. The daily vaccinations have been steadily coming down despite increase in cases.

Stalin bats for more Covid-19 beds in pvt hospitals

Stalin bats for more Covid-19 beds in pvt hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

DMK president and chief minister- designate M K Stalin on Wednesday appealed to private hospitals in Tamil Nadu to increase bed facilities to treat Covid-19 patients.

At present, private hospitals have allocated 50% of the beds exclusively for Covid-19 treatment. “Since it is a medical emergency, I request private hospitals to add more beds and consider subsidizing the Covid-19 treatment cost,” Stalin said in a statement.

Stalin noted that he had suggested to the chief secretary that a war room be established for better coordination. It would be helpful in monitoring and maintaining the availability of beds, oxygen, and vaccines in all districts.

He applauded frontline workers for their “massive service” for the community.

How a nightmare unfolded at midnight

How a nightmare unfolded at midnight

There Were Not Enough Docs, Nurses To Save Everyone

Pushpa Narayan & Ram Sundaram TNN

Chennai:06.05.2021

Did the authorities at the Chengalpet Medical College Hospital ignore warning signs? Eleven patients died within two hours after the volume of oxygen flowing in the pipelines fell from about 70 litres per minute to 10 litres per minute after midnight on Wednesday.

“It was something that we had warned the management about,” said a duty doctor, a postgraduate medical student. “Oxygen supply had dipped on Tuesday afternoon and two people died,” the doctor said.

The hospital, which had more than 300 patients on oxygen support in Covid-19 and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection wards, consumes an average of 4.2 kilolitres (KL) of oxygen a day. Dean Dr J Muthukumaran said the hospital filled up about 4 kilolitres of oxygen on Tuesday evening, two hours after he received the first complaint. The hospital has five oxygen tanks —two of 10-KL capacity and three 1-KL tanks.

“Our biomedical engineers replaced a coil near the main valve, which created trouble a week ago. It was replaced with a temporary coil (with the help of oxygen manufacturer INOX) to maintain the pressure levels. Ever since the substitute coil was installed, oxygen consumption almost doubled even when the patient count was almost the same. So, we had to refill the main oxygen tank much more frequently,” he said.

On Tuesday, there were no problems once the tank was refilled, but things went horribly wrong by midnight, when the pressure dropped once again.

Patient attenders cried for help in vain. In the children’s ward, doctors and nurses pulled out ambu bags – handheld devices commonly used to provide positive pressure ventilation – to save their tiny patients. In other wards, technicians dragged oxygen cylinders to bedsides.

But there were too many patients and too few healthcare providers. For instance, in the comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care ward there were 150 patients including pregnant women and new mothers. This ward had two doctors, two nurses and one technician. The neighboring admin block with more than 200 patients had four doctors, two nurses and two technicians. “When patients choked, there was chaos. Their relatives panicked. Some threatened us even as we were running between beds to save patients,” said a doctor.

“An investigation will be carried out and action will be taken against those who were responsible for the technical fault,” said collector John Louis.

By Wednesday afternoon, director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu, who led the inspection team, said there was “no oxygen shortage”.

In Salem, three Covid-19 patients die in ambulances

In Salem, three Covid-19 patients die in ambulances

Senthil.Kumaran@timesgroup.com

Salem:06.05.2021

Three Covid-19 patients died while undergoing treatment in ambulances parked on the premises of Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital (SGMKMCH) on Tuesday night.

Doctors said they did not have sufficient beds to treat the patients, due to which they had treated them in ambulances that brought them to SGMKMCH from private hospitals.

The deceased were a 30-year-old woman and two men aged 42 and 45, who had comorbidities. “They died in the ambulances not responding to treatment,” SGMKMCH dean R Murugesan told TOI. “They were brought at the eleventh hour after their condition became critical.”

Of the 800 beds in SGMKMCH, 550 are oxygenequipped, Murugesan said. “At least 500 new cases are reported from the district every day. We also get patients from neighbouring districts. We can’t accommodate everyone. We have taken steps to set up an additional 200 oxygenequipped beds.”

Critically ill patients from Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Kallakurichi, Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai are referred to SGMKMCH, which is a multispecialty hospital. “We try our best to take care of all Covid-19 patients,” Murugesan said.

Following the deaths, the hospital management set up a monitoring committee consisting of Dr Sureshkanna, Dr Pon A Rajarajan, Dr P Kannan, Dr T Sampathkumar and Dr Nagarajan. “The five-member committee will monitor oxygen usage, audit deaths and give suitable advice to the floor monitoring committee,” the dean added.

Meanwhile, a senior doctor at SGMKMCH said primary health centres and government hospitals are referring Covid-19 patients with mild complications.

WAITING FOR THEIR TURN: Ambulances lined up at the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday