Guwahati private hospitals run short of beds in COVID-19 ICUs

GUWAHATI: Amid the surge in the number of cases of COVID-19 positive in the state, private hospitals in Guwahati are facing a shortage of ICU beds.

Assam yesterday reported 3,197 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of positive patients in the state to 2,53,123, while the active caseload is 23,826.

Of the total fresh cases, Kamrup (M) recorded the highest of 1,184 new COVID-19 positive cases, while Dibrugarh reported 245, Nalbari 143 and Kamrup district 133 cases.

The new cases have added to the strain on the state's healthcare facilities in private hospitals, especially in terms of the availability of bed.

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When InsideNE talked to some private hospitals in and around the capital city, they said the number of patients seeking tertiary treatment has gradually increased, and as the number of serious cases has increased, almost all the beds are now occupied and being used by the patients. However, the hospital authorities have claimed to be trying all possibilities to deal with the situation and to provide best healthcare facilities.

There are over 20 private hospitals with ICU facility in the city. Sources said, all combined together can accommodate 500 patients in the ICUs.

The state-run hospitals have about 1200 COVID beds and about 1000 beds in COVID centres. Of these, there are about 500 oxygen-supported beds in the city.

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Assam’s COVID-19 death toll rose to 1,307 as the state witnessed 26 new COVID-19 deaths yesterday.

A total of 2,449 patients have recovered from the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 2,26,643, with a recovery rate of 89.54 %.

At a time when the hospitals are struggling to accommodate patients, most of them have been left to deal with a huge rush of crowds turning up for COVID-19 vaccination in the age group of 18 to 45 years, which the Centre announced from today but could not take off due to unavailability of vaccines.

Unlike other state governments, the Assam government did not make any formal announcement about the unavailability of vaccine for the inoculation drive to take off today.

Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma last evening told a section of the media that the government was yet to receive the required vaccine doses from the manufacturers. He added that he was expecting a communication regarding it last night though.

Neither the Centre nor the vaccine manufacturers is yet to communicate with the states regarding supply of the vaccines.

The Assam government has placed orders of 1 crore Covishield doses with Serum Institute and another 1 crore Covaxin doses with Bharat Biotech, but are yet to receive the consignments.

Some of the hospitals witnessed unruly crowd behaviour as well following which many hospitals were left with the only option of locking out the gates to keep the crowds away because they were also in the dark about when the drive could be started.

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