In an indication that the healthcare system in Maharashtra might get overwhelmed in the coming days because of the huge rise in the COVID-19 cases, a civic-run hospital near Pune is forced to set up a ‘triage’ facility outside to provide oxygen support to patients as the available number of oxygenated beds remained occupied. Pune district reported a record 12,494 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 5,74,829, the third consecutive day when new case addition peaks were touched, according to an official.
With the number of cases rising sharply in Pune district, there is a shortage of beds in hospitals. A senior official said the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) in Pimpri Chinchwad city reached the “threshold of available oxygenated beds” on Sunday, forcing authorities to set up a medical triage area outside the facility.
“Out of the 432 beds available for COVID-19 patients at the hospital, 55 are ICU beds and the rest are oxygenated beds. As the hospital on Sunday reached the threshold of the number of the oxygenated beds available, and to provide immediate relief to patients, authorities have created a triage area outside the hospital where five beds are kept,” said Dr Rajendra Wable, Dean, YCMH. In medical parlance, a triage area or a station is set up when hospitals sort out priorities to treat people according to their need for emergency medical attention to determine who gets care first.
“Till the time, the paperwork is completed and the bed is made available to patients inside the YCMH hospital or any other COVID-19 facility, patients are being asked to remain in the triage area and oxygen support is provided as immediate relief,” said Wable. He said there was nothing wrong with providing such support in triage areas.
“Till 3.30 pm on Sunday, three patients were given the oxygen support at the triage area as they were waiting to get beds inside the facility or at any other hospital,” Wable added. Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) dashboards showed that beds were not available in the civic and private hospitals under the category of the ICU beds with ventilator as on 8 PM on Sunday.
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