Ggm: Despite high recovery, dwindling number of critical care beds a concern
Gurugram: Despite clocking a recovery rate of over 80 per cent, the next big challenge for Gurugram is to make sure they have enough healthcare infrastructure to care for critical COVID-19 patients who are getting treated in ICU beds in the city. According to official data, of the 284 ICU beds with and without ventilators in private hospitals of Gurugram reserved for COVID-19 patients, nearly 50 per cent are now occupied.
With the healthcare infrastructure in the city heavily reliant on private healthcare, there are a total of 210 ICU beds with and without ventilators at Medeor Hospital, the city's only government facility, of which only three are occupied and all are on a ventilator.
The data shows that of 192 ICU beds without ventilators 102 are occupied and of the 92 beds that have the facilities of the ventilators, 38 at present are occupied. This is for private hospitals and healthcare facilities in the city, showing that occupancy is more than 49 per cent.
The major load of this is being borne by private hospitals. Under the public health care system, there are 500 beds for COVID-19 patients. 150 beds are ICU beds and 60 beds have ventilator services.
Gurugram District Administration officially claims that the situation of COVID-19 in the district has stabilised with high recovery rates and fewer cases being reported. The total number of deaths in Gurugram due to COVID-19 has already crossed 100. With a fatality rate hovering around 1.6 to 1.7 per cent, there are at least two deaths reported every day due to the coronavirus.
The silver lining is that even as Gurugram is one of the worst affected districts in the country in terms of total cases, the fatality rates are still lower. Notwithstanding the fact that senior officials do not want to take any chances and have begun to take steps to prevent the sudden increase in the number of deaths due to COVID-19.
To trace a large number of undetected cases the officials have ramped up the process of testing and have begun to emphasise on contact tracing. The danger of undetected cases can be gauged from the fact that 37 per cent of the deaths due to COVID-19 are of those without co-morbidities.
"We have now reached a level where increased testing and contact tracing are our top priority. If we can detect the case at the earliest and isolate the patients, we can save more lives. We have adequate medical facilities for the critical patients," said a senior official from Gurugram District Administration.
