Private hospitals in the city have started increasing Covid beds and are also procuring additional testing kits apprehending a surge in admissions and number of daily tests with Covid cases on the rise.
Belle Vue Clinic increased its number of Covid beds to 66 from 40 on Thursday. All the beds were full even after the increase, said an official. Woodlands Hospitals increased its Covid beds to 49 from 21 on Wednesday. AMRI Hospitals also doubled the number of Covid beds to 60 on Tuesday.
Officials at Peerless Hospital and RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) said they had all infrastructure ready to increase the number of beds within a day.
Several hospitals also reported a rise in the number of daily tests. AMRI Hospitals was doing about 100 tests a week back. From Monday, AMRI Hospitals have been doing 300 tests every day. An official of the hospital said they were stocking up on more testing kits.
At RTIICS, the number of testing kits ordered for January is over three times of what they had been ordering for past four months.
The number of daily new cases have increased manifold compared to what it was ten days or a fortnight ago.
“All our beds are full. We had increased the number of Covid beds in our hospital to 66 from 40 on Thursday,” said Pradip Tondon, the chief executive officer of Belle Vue Clinic. “The number of tests in our laboratory has also increased to 75 a day from 20 a day a week ago,” added Tondon.
Woodlands Hospitals raised its number of Covid beds after it witnessed a sharp rise in admissions. “One week ago the average number of admitted Covid patients undergoing treatment was 7 or 8, but now 24 patients are undergoing treatment at Woodlands. Covid positivity rate is also on the rise. Looking at the trend, we have increased our Covid beds to 49 from 21,” said Rupali Basu, Managing Director & CEO, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital.
The hospitals are also buying new testing kits and medicines. R. Venkatesh, the regional director of Narayana Health, the owner of RTIICS, said that the hospital has ordered 10,000 Covid testing kits for January. “We were procuring about 3,000 kits every month for last several months. But this month we have ordered 10,000 kits. Some of it have already arrived and the rest will be here soon,” said Venkatesh.
The hospital is doing about 120 Covid tests a day now. “At the peak of the second wave earlier this year, we were doing up to 525 tests a day. We have the infrastructure ready and also stocking up on kits so that if needed we can easily scale up the testing,” said Venkatesh.
The private hospitals have also kept some of their Covid beds segregated for omicron cases.
The official of AMRI Hospitals said they have kept 6 isolation cabins reserved for Omicron positive persons and Omicron suspects. “Those who are suspects of Omicron would be sent to the isolation cabin. If they test negative they will be discharged or sent to Covid ward depending on their condition. Someone who tests positive for Omicron would stay back in the isolation cabin,” said the official.