Hospitals see drop in admissions

The steady decline in COVID-19 cases has brought down the number of in-patients in government hospitals in Chennai. There has been a significant decline in the number of daily admissions over the past week.

Chennai reported less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases a day in the last two days. The city’s highest daily tally in the third wave was 8,987 recorded on January 16. As on February 7, the city had 14,713 active cases, including those under home isolation.

The gradual drop in SARS CoV-2 infection had led to fewer admissions in major government hospitals in the city. There were 65 COVID-19 in-patients at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH). Of these, 54 had tested positive for the infection while the remaining had suspected symptoms of COVID-19 or tested negative, E. Theranirajan, dean of RGGGH, said.

“In this wave, we had a maximum in-patients of 304 on January 10. Our daily admissions now are about seven to 10. Earlier, we had 45 to 50 admissions a day, which was 10% of our outpatients then,” he said.

At the Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar, there were 70 in-patients in the COVID-19 wards. Of these, 40 were on oxygen support, according to dean R. Jayanthi.

“The highest number of in-patients admitted during this wave was 191 on January 10. From a maximum of 22 patients admitted a day, the number of daily admissions dropped to seven on Monday,” she said.

As of Tuesday, the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital had 32 COVID-19 positive patients and six patients with suspected symptoms. “The highest number of in-patients was on January 13 when we had 209 patients of which 189 were positive for COVID-19 and 20 had suspected symptoms. Prior to this, we had 205 patients on January 11. The highest number of admissions a day was 57 on January 9,” P. Balaji, dean of the hospital, said.

More than 20 cases were admitted per day from January 3 to 21. From December 29 to till date, the hospital had treated 729 patients with COVID-19.

R. Shanthimalar, dean of Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, said there were 26 patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 and 14 with suspected symptoms of COVID-19.

“At KMC, the highest case admission in this wave was on January 13 when we admitted 54 patients. With proper triaging, admission during the peak time in January was 40 to 50 a day. Now, it is five to 10 a day. On Monday, we had only three admissions,” she said.

At the Government Corona Hospital, Guindy, there were 88 in-patients, K. Narayanasamy, hospital director, said. “There were 90-100 daily admissions during the first week of January. There is 80% reduction in admissions today,” he added. The Hindu