Preparing for upsurge

The Centre and states have to prepare for innovative solutions to deal with patient influx while ensuring safety of healthcare officials

With number of cases of Coronavirus patients surpassing 1.50 lakh with less than a week for the fourth lockdown to end, the Centre and the state governments must concentrate on being innovative in increasing the medical facilities to tackle the upsurge. The case load and quarantine facilities created so far appear to have been over-loaded as the number of cases has been rising steadily in the last one week. If the testing of the suspected patients is taken to a larger sphere, it is definite that the number will be higher. It is important to note that with relaxation in restrictions from the third phase of the lockdown has further added to the challenges faced by the country's already overburdened health facilities. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) figures suggest that the positive cases rate has gone up to 7 percent in three weeks of phase three and four of the lockdown while it was around 3 percent at the end of Lockdown 2.0. The mortality rate remaining static at about 3 percent is reassuring. Moreover, more than 80 percent of the infected patients do not require hospitalisation. Even then, the sheer scale of the pandemic seems to be taxing the resources of hospitals in most parts of the country and taking a toll on the health of medical professionals. The death, on Sunday, of a Coronavirus-positive nurse in a private hospital in Delhi, who was allegedly made to wear used PPEs, brings to the fore the difficulties of those at the frontlines of the battle against the virus. In the backdrop of the crisis in the wake of pandemic, the states have tried to mobilise public resources, set up new medical centres, and increase quarantine facilities in the past two months. In most parts of the country, such efforts have produced mixed results. In Delhi, more than 75 percent of the beds reserved for Corona-positive patients in private hospitals are already occupied. Though the Delhi government claims that the situation is under control, it needs to be on high alert because the city has been adding more than 400 Corona positive cases daily for more than a week now. In Maharashtra, the situation is much more critical. Acute shortage of Dedicated Coronavirus Hospitals, which treat critically ill patients like those who require ICU or ventilator support is being felt.
The recent move of the Centre to run special trains for the migrant workers and their return from hotspots, districts and small towns in the country will have their task cut out. For example, Khagaria district in Bihar, expects about 50,000 migrants to return in the coming weeks, but has only two ventilators, both in private hospitals. Only 37 of the 135 posts of government doctors in the district have been filled. Overwhelmed by the pandemic, some medical facilities have turned up the pressure on medical professionals, particularly junior doctors and nurses. Only last week, the Gujarat High Court pulled up the state's health minister and chief secretary for neglecting the problems faced by patients and staff at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Responding to an anonymous letter detailing the problems of the government hospital's junior staff, the High Court described the healthcare facility as a 'miserable shelters'. As the Corona positive cases increase, policymakers and hospital authorities need to work out innovative solutions to deal with the higher number of patients. As a first step, they must treat healthcare workers in a humane manner, ensure their safety while increasing the facilities in a phased manner in advance so that testing of the workers and other travellers is not hampered. Taking over private accommodations in different towns close to the hospitals or in the hinterland away from densely populated areas will be finding favour with the people. This will need to be done on war-footing to meet deadline for accepting such an influx of the patients.