Bed crisis at private hospitals in Kolkata

A 49-year-old woman suffered a cerebral stroke and was taken to a private hospital off EM Bypass on Sunday night. The New Town resident had to wait for a day in the Emergency department before she got a bed in the ward, said her family.

An elderly resident of Salt Lake, suffering from severe respiratory distress, had to wait for five hours in the Emergency department of another hospital before getting a single-bed room on Monday.

Private hospitals across the city are reporting a scarcity of beds with patients having to wait for hours before being admitted.

Hospital officials and doctors are attributing the high occupancy to the fact that many people schedule their planned surgeries and procedures around this time because of the favourable weather and other reasons.

Adding to the crisis is rapid spread of upper respiratory tract infections, which are necessitating hospitalisation of elderly people and children, some of whom are requiring critical care.

An official of a private hospital said delay in getting clearance for patients with health insurance delays discharge, which causes more inconvenience for patients in queue for admission.

“A respiratory viral infection is active in the community at the moment, affecting people of all age groups. Many of them are requiring admission and also critical are beds,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.

The symptoms include cough, sore throat, body ache, breathing difficulty and drop in oxygen saturation.

“Half the patients admitted under me are suffering from such symptoms,” he said.

At Peerless Hospital, 63 patients were admitted on Tuesday till evening, compared with the daily average of 40.

“We have 348 patients admitted, of whom 110 are suffering from upper respiratory tract infections. We have to defer admission of patients who have planned surgeries and procedures,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

At Apollo Multispeciality Hospital, 90 per cent of its 744 beds were occupied on Tuesday evening. All critical care beds were occupied, too.

“Emergency patients and those turning up for planned admissions are waiting for a bed. Admissions have increased over the last few months…. The rise in the number of patients with respiratory distress is adding to the pressure,” said Rana Dasgupta, CEO, eastern region, Apollo Multispeciality Hospital.

At the three AMRI hospitals, the bed occupancy is 93 per cent, compared with the average of 80 per cent. “Many patients are suffering from respiratory infections and are requiring critical care beds,” said Rupak Barua, group CEO of AMRI. Telegraph India