Rohtak hospitals face shortage of ICU beds

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, April 25

With no availability of the ICU beds at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) and 11 private hospitals, the Covid crisis has deepened in the district despite all efforts by the administration to tackle the situation.

The circumstances have forced families of the Covid patients requiring critical care to find out the availability of the ICU beds in surrounding districts while the hospitals are also getting calls from Gurugram, Delhi and Faridabad for the ICU and oxygen-supported beds.

As per information uploaded at the state government’s portal, Rohtak district has a total of 87 ICU beds and 143 ventilators to treat Covid patients. Merely four ICU beds were available at Civil Hospital in Rohtak city on Sunday, while all other ICU beds at the PGIMS and all 11 private hospitals were occupied by patients.

“We have extended the ICU bed facility from five to 15 in my hospital, but the situation is critical and none of the ICU beds is available. People from Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad are contacting us daily for ICU beds, but we are unable to admit every patient due to the non-availability of the ICU beds,” said a doctor of a prominent hospital in Rohtak city.

He said though the district administration was helping them to sort out the oxygen issue, all private hospitals were still struggling for getting adequate supply of oxygen. The situation might deteriorate if the supply was not improved in the coming days, he added.

The PGIMS medical superintendent, Dr Pushpa Dahiya, and PRO Varun Arora neither received the calls nor responded to SMS sent to them for getting their comments over the prevailing situation.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar has roped in all three SDMs to monitor the availability of medicines and oxygen in government and private hospitals. They would visit the hospitals daily to check the supply and the stock of oxygen and remdesivir. They would also submit a report in this respect by 6 pm daily.