The state government on Monday asked private hospitals to set up a separate ward for patients infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and another for Covid patients awaiting their genome sequencing report, officials of private hospitals said on Monday.
Genome sequencing is done to know which variant of the virus has infected the patient.
The hospitals were also told that samples of everyone who tests positive for Covid in Kolkata, New Town, Rajarhat and Salt Lake, and has a CT value of less than 30, has to be sent for genome sequencing.
Also, the samples of those who are Covid positive and have an international travel history have to be sent for sequencing. The CT value is a measure of the viral load in a patient. The lower the value, the higher the load.
State health department officials held an online meeting with officials of several private hospitals on Monday to discuss how to manage a potential rise in Omicron cases.
The hospitals were also told to stay prepared so they can quickly increase the number of beds for Omicron-positive persons if there is a sudden surge, said an official of a private hospital who attended the meeting.
Ajay Chakraborty, the state’s director of health services, did not respond to a request for comments on the meeting.
The Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa last month, is driving a surge in Covid cases around the world.
“We need to have separate isolation cabins for Omicron-positive persons. There has to be separate isolation cabins for Omicron suspects, who are persons who have a CT value less than 30 as well as those who have international travel history and tested positive for Covid,” said an official of AMRI Hospitals.
Pradip Tondon, the CEO of Belle Vue Clinic, said: “We have reserved five beds for Omicron-positive patients. Besides, 15 beds have been reserved for those who are suspected to have been infected by Omicron.” The hospital, he said, will not increase the number of beds for Omicron patients immediately.
“The number of Omicron-positive patients is still quite low in Kolkata. But we are in a position to quickly increase the number of beds if there is a surge in the number of Omicron-positive persons,” said Tondon, who attended Monday’s virtual meeting.
Several other hospitals, too, said they were not increasing right now the number of beds reserved for Omicron-positive patients.
“Woodlands Hospitals has two isolation cabins for Omicron-positive persons. Besides, there are 12 beds reserved for Omicron suspects. There are another 16 beds for other Covid patients,” said Rupali Basu, the managing director of Woodlands. The hospital, she said, has the capacity to increase the number of isolation cabins but does not have any immediate plan to do so.
All three units of AMRI have facilities for Omicron-positive patients as well as Omicron suspects. “We have 60 beds for Omicron suspects and six isolation cabins for Omicron-positive persons. We will reserve more cabins for positive persons and more beds for suspects,” an AMRI official said.