Shortage of covid beds in Kolkata; health officials face difficulty to arrange beds – Times Now

Kolkata: Amidst the shortage of hospital beds in Kolkata, the health officials faced immense difficulty when beds for three high profile people could not be arranged. Sukumar Mukherjee, a senior physician who is an integral part of the Covid response expert committee had a hard time arranging beds for a former judge and his relative.

According to the Times of India, Mukherjee said, “I had a tough time getting patients admitted. Over the past 24 hours, I tried to get beds for three patients — a former chief justice of Bombay High Court, an actor and a relative of mine. Hospitals are out of beds. I had to plead with authorities of a private hospital to get two of them admitted. I found space for the third at the ID Hospital.”

Almost all hospitals from private to the government are flooded with patients. These hospitals have an acute shortage of beds because of which any new patients are redirected to another medical facility. Few hospitals take a brief note on the patient’s condition who couldn’t be admitted and prioritize them when beds are available.

“Almost 86% of the total bed strength has now been pressed into Covid care service. All 167 beds, including 37 meant for critical care, are occupied. If any new positive patient comes in before a vacancy arises, we have to request the family to take the patient to another facility as we cannot admit the patient in the non-Covid ward,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO, Belle Vue Clinic.

There are only 5,157 Covid beds in Kolkata and 13,773 active cases as of Sunday. The ratio is of beds is quite low.