Delhi: Hindu Rao Hospital may become Covid-19 only

NEW DELHI:

Hindu Rao Hospital

, the

biggest healthcare facility

run by

north corporation

, may soon be turned into a Covid-19 designated unit.

Plans

are afoot to

transfer patients

out and make necessary infrastructure arrangements to cater to those infected by the novel coronavirus.


A senior official said the corporation commissioner and Delhi chief secretary held a meeting to assess the resources in municipal hospitals to decide which ones could be turned into Covid-19 designated facilities. “They discussed the infrastructure availability and problems associated with Hindu Rao, Kasturba and Rajan Babu TB hospitals. With a steep increase in Covid-19 positive cases, the hospitals are being made ready for any contingency,” the official added.

Though Kasturba Hospital has 450 beds, it is located in the thickly populated Walled City and has no ICU or ventilators. “In a meeting with the hospital administration, it was pointed out that Kasturba is close to Lok Nayak Hospital, which is already a Covid-19 designated facility. The delivery cases from Lok Nayak are currently being diverted to this maternity hospital, so turning it into a Covid-19 only facility will exacerbate the problems of other patients,” a senior doctor said. An average of 1,000 deliveries are conducted at Kasturba Hospital each month.

An official said the transfer of patients already undergoing treatment was also a key consideration. “Rajan Babu TB Hospital has a large number of beds, but it provides specialised treatment to multi drug-resistant tuberculosis patients, who can’t be provided the same at a similar facility elsewhere. Moreover, it has no ICU,” he added.

For the time being, Hindu Rao, which has around 1,000 beds, is likely to be made a Covid-only facility. “Unlike Kasturba and Rajan Babu hospitals, Hindu Rao has 18 ventilators, ICU and 400 beds with oxygen administering facility. It also has a bank of PPEs and is already running a fever clinic where samples of patients are being taken. It has a well-trained staff of 600 doctors and 300 nurses. These details are being submitted to the health ministry,” the official added.

The head of the departments at Hindu Rao have already been asked to submit a plan to relocate patients, give a list of hospitals where they can be shifted to and the time frame required for completing the task.

Employees at Hindu Rao, however, complained that they haven’t been paid salaries for the past three months. “How can they expect us to work while making it difficult for us to sustain our families? Even soap and basic medicines are not available in many departments. It will lead to a disaster unless the issues are sorted out before making it a Covid-designated facility,” a doctor added.

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