100% OCCUPANCY IN MANY PVT HOSPS

100% OCCUPANCY IN MANY PVT HOSPS

Patients complain of hosps turning them away citing no beds

Team TOI

28.04.2021 

An 81-year-old man waited a whole day outside a private hospital in Chennai as paramedics administered oxygen and closely monitored his vital parameters in an ambulance that ferried him all the way from Vellore.

The patient first reported to the emergency ward of a private hospital in Vellore with complaints of discomfort and uneasiness. The doctors asked the family to shift him after he tested Covid-positive on Sunday night. “They said they had no more isolation beds and that he cannot be taken to a normal ward. We were asked to vacate immediately. Every private hospital I called said they were full. We reached Chennai by 9.30am on Monday. My father spent the whole day in the ambulance. He was wheeled in at 6pm,” the patient’s son told TOI.

Patients say the state website only has details on private hospital beds and even that is not updated periodically. Across TN, patients complained that getting admitted was increasingly difficult, particularly in the private sector as hospitals either don’t have adequate beds or ventilators for critically ill patients.

In Chennai, nearly 84% of beds in the five government Covid hospitals were full, several private hospitals reported an occupancy rate of 100% or more. “We can’t add more beds because they don’t treat patients. We need doctors and nurses to care for patients. Most are already overworked,” said Dr S Suresh, who head VHS Hospitals in Chennai. Almost all 70 beds, 24 ICU beds and 11ventilators in the hospital were full. Several other hospitals reported more than 90% occupancy rate.

On an average, a nurse takes care of 15 patients in a ward, about 8 patients who are on oxygen beds and four who are in the ICU at government hospitals. In addition, most of these wards have duty doctors and PG medical students. “We have closed OP wards, asked doctors to attend only emergency cases. Still our ward is among the busiest,” said director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu. “Yet, we don’t turn away patients who require hospitalisation.”

When ESI Hospital in Coimbatore said all 680 beds were occupied, CMCH expanded its isolation ward from 865 beds to 1,045 beds. On Tuesday, 523 were occupied. Across the state, bed occupancy has increased in almost all private hospitals. In Trichy, a 70-year-old man was turned away by a private hospital. “He had an oxygen saturation level of 70. We took him to Mahatma Gandhi memorial government hospital, but it was too late,” said a family member. Hospital dean Dr K Vanitha said 530 of the 684 beds were occupied on Tuesday.