Many hospitals are planning to bring down the number of Covid beds to the lowest since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 as the third wave of infections is receding fast.
Also, the healthcare units are confident that they will be able to increase the number of isolation beds within a day or two, if required.
In 2020, following the outbreak of Covid, the hospitals had taken weeks to set up isolation units for patients infected with the coronavirus.
Even after the first two waves had receded, most hospitals decided to keep a substantial number of beds dedicated for Covid patients.
But now, with the case count and the test positivity rate steadily falling, most hospitals are ready to drastically cut the number of Covid beds.
State health department officials said they were planning to set up a non-Covid unit in a building at MR Bangur Superspeciality Hospital in Tollygunge.
The hospital was declared a Covid treatment facility soon after the outbreak.
“The building where the non-Covid unit will be set up has 500 beds. With the setting up of the unit, the hospital will have around 200 beds for Covid patients,” said an official of the health department.
The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences is planning to cut down the number of Covid beds to 25 very soon.
“The lowest number of Covid beds we had was 40, just before the third wave. But now we are planning to reduce it further,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.
He said that if required, the hospital would take a day or two to increase the number of Covid beds.
“Earlier, it would take seven to 10 days to open a Covid ward. Now, most infrastructure (to set up an isolation unit), such as negative pressure wards to ensure air is not circulated to other wards, dedicated doors and elevators, along with personnel, are in place. So it'll take one to two days to reopen such a unit,” said Venkatesh.
Belle Vue Clinic will keep five critical care beds and 14 isolation beds to test patients after admission.
The hospital, which had brought down the number of Covid beds to 88, no longer has any general Covid beds.
“Earlier, non-Covid patients were reluctant to get shifted and we would have to wait for their discharge before converting the ward into a Covid zone. But now they understand…” said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.
Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital has reduced the number of beds to 16, only three of which were occupied on Wednesday.
The occupancy of non-Covid beds, however, was as high as 90 per cent.
“We have been able to convert wards quicker this time because of low severity of disease and faster recovery time…. Our processes, too, are now streamlined…” said Rupali Basu, managing director & CEO, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital.