Chennai scrambles to find ICU beds as Covid cases soar – Hindustan Times

Chennai: As Covid-19 cases rise in Tamil Nadu with the highest caseload in Chennai, people were struggling to find beds with oxygen support and ventilators in time. As per 5.30 pm data from the state government’s Covid bed status on its website, among the five government hospitals in Chennai, only nine oxygen supported beds were available out of 1,823 while all 919 ICU beds were occupied.

“On an average, we are admitting 150-200 patients per day and most of them are in critical condition. Discharges are 70-90 in a day… we are extending oxygen lines,” said Dr E Theranirajan, dean, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), the largest public hospital in Chennai treating Covid-19.

The hospital has now formed a four-member committee to exclusively monitor consumption of oxygen. “The team will monitor and plan how to conserve oxygen in the wards,” said Theranirajan. The hospital is also planning to add 20,000 kilo litre oxygen from other blocks, to meet the demand for Covid-19 treatment. “We are working with the technical team as well as the oxygen team to be able to conserve it even as we increase the oxygen points,” Theranirajan added.

ICUs in most private hospitals in the city are full and the struggle is to find beds in either government facilities or smaller private hospitals. “It’s a very bad situation,” said a doctor of a private hospital. “More patients are critical in the second wave. In the first wave, even those with mild, moderate symptoms were hospitalised, but now they’re in home treatment. Our ICU is full and there are 12 patients on the waitlist. We use 3,500 metric cubes of oxygen every day for more than 250 patients on oxygen support. We are worried about managing oxygen so that it is not replenished,” the doctor added.

Archanaa Seker, who volunteers for a group Chennai Cares formed to help people find drugs and beds, said it took them more than eight hours to find an oxygen supported bed for a 65-year-old man with comorbidities in Chennai last week. The patient’s oxygen levels were 89 at 11 am last Tuesday and began to drop. The group called 108 ambulance service operated by the government and which had oxygen support and the family went to a private and government hospital where there were no beds before reaching RGGGH. “They had to wait for a few hours at the hospital before he got a bed with oxygen support. At 11.30 pm, he was struggling to breathe but his treatment had started,” said Seker. The patient died in the hospital on Tuesday. “The hospital had rightly escalated his treatment at every stage, but despite being on high flow oxygen his health deteriorated,” said Seker.

“The struggle for beds is showing us many sides of why the situation is grim in Chennai. It’s not just a shortage of resources but lack of information. Who is going to guide you? Where do you go first if you are told you need to be on a ventilator? It’s also the first time we are pushing people to use the government system whether it’s for treatment or the 104 helpline to avail beds because the system is in place,” Seker added.

On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu reported 21,228 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the total active caseload in the state to 123,258. Chennai accounted for 6,228 of the total new cases, taking its active case count to 33,222, according to state health department. The state also reported 144 deaths due to Covid-19 on Tuesday, which took the toll due to the pandemic to 14,612.

Meanwhile, health authorities said it has been more challenging as compared to the first wave. “We are increasing hospital beds with oxygen and ensuring oxygen is sustained as cases are increasing and we have sought inputs from Kerala on their management,” said a health official, who did not wish to be named.

Tamil Nadu is going through a transition from the AIADMK-led government to the newly elected one led by DMK chief MK Stalin. A day after victory, chief minister-elect Stalin held two review meetings with the state’s chief secretary, health secretary among other top bureaucrats on the Covid-19 situation on Monday and Tuesday. “After the meeting we introduced new restrictions,” an official said.

Late Monday night, the new restrictions such as 50% workforce in government and private offices from May 6 to 20 were announced.

“Don’t think of this as restrictions imposed by the government but as the restrictions that people put on themselves,” said Stalin in a statement. “Only by turning this into a people’s movement can we break the chain,” he added.

Experts said that though Tamil Nadu has a better public health system and administration compared to other states, it is getting overwhelmed. “If you see the curve in the second wave, it’s a steep rise,” said virologist Jacob John, former director of the ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology. “The spread is three-four times faster because of the variants, which is most concerning,” John added.