Only 25 required ventilator support

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Chandigarh, May 23

Only one per cent of the Covid-positive patients required ventilator support in Punjab. The first Covid case was reported in the first week of March in the state. Since then, more than 2,000 patients have tested positive and 39 have succumbed to the viral infection.

However, about 25 patients were put on ventilator support. Most of them suffered from multiple chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension or respiratory problems, the Health Department said.

More than 85 per cent of the patients were asymptomatic.

Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, nodal officer for Covid, said the number of patients who required ventilator support were fewer. “A large number of patients were cured by providing oxygen support,” he said.

The state has about 500 ventilators for Covid patients, out which around 350 are in the government set-up.

In Ludhiana, seven patients required ventilator support. A 42-year-old woman, Pooja, was the first one to lose her life due to Covid in Ludhiana. She was referred to Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, on March 30 but she died the same day. Another patient, ACP Anil Kohli (52), who was put on ventilator on April 11 died on April 18.

Amritsar district has reported more than 312 Covid cases in the past month and a half. Only five patients were put on ventilator. The district’s Covid care centre at Government Medical College (GMC) has 55 ventilators. The GMC has reported nine deaths so far.

A member of the Covid control committee at the GMC said, “More than 250 patients remained asymptomatic during their stay at the hospital. The ventilator is required in extremely critical cases.”

A tertiary care centre in Faridkot provided ICU care to six patients; four of them were put on ventilator in Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital.

Faridkot Medical College has 38 ventilators and 14 of these artificial respiration appliances were allotted to the ICU for Covid patients.

Patiala has reported more than 100 cases at the isolation ward of the Rajindra Hospital. Only two patients had to be put on ventilator. And both died during the treatment.