SSKM Hospital’s gynaecology and obstetrics department has patients double its capacity, with many women sharing beds.

Reasons: options for women in need of gynaecological care have shrunk as a number of government hospitals have been turned into Covid treatment centres; and a perception that SSKM is safer because Covid patients are not admitted there.

Some big government hospitals in the city, such as the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and MR Bangur Superspeciality Hospital, have become dedicated Covid treatment centres or have Covid wards.

“These hospitals used to handle hundreds of child births. Now, many people are wary of going there to avoid coming in contact with Covid patients,” a health department official said.

SSKM has “holding wards” where patients are kept after admission. Those who test positive for Covid are shifted to hospitals that treat such patients.

SSKM officials said the crush of patients in the gynaecology and obstetrics department had forced them to look for space where beds for obstetrics could be set up. The search has been necessitated by the steady rise in the number of child delivery cases at the hospital.

In March, when the Covid-19 outbreak started in Bengal, SSKM’s gynaecology and obstetrics department had seen a seven per cent rise in the number of child births compared with the average pre-pandemic monthly figure. November saw almost 100 per cent rise and the authorities fear December could be even worse.

The department had 110 beds. In June, another 36 were added.

“We had found space on the ground floor of Woodburn Block, where we created an extension of the obstetrics ward. But that is far from enough, given the steady rise in the number of patients,” an official at SSKM said.

Despite the increase in capacity, two women are at times asked to share a bed.

“We will add another 24 beds, taking the total count to 170. The old outpatient department of the ophthalmology unit was defunct and we were planning to set up an eye bank there. But given the situation, we have to create a temporary gynaecology and obstetrics ward of 24 beds there. The facility will become operational by next week,” said the official.

However, a doctor of the department said that even the latest addition would be inadequate. “We used to perform around 500 child deliveries every month. In November, there were 939,” said the doctor.

The temporary 24-bed gynaecology and obstetrics ward at SSKM hospital under construction on Thursday Sanat Kr Sinha

The pressure on the department increased further after suburban trains resumed on November 11.

The SSKM authorities and health department officials cite unavailability of beds in other hospitals amid the pandemic as the primary reason for the rush of patients to SSKM. The Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and MR Bangur Superspeciality Hospital used to handle hundreds of child births every month.

“MR Bangur hospital has been turned into a Covid hospital. A large number of women from south Calcutta and southern fringes would deliver babies at MR Bangur,” said an official of the health department.

An official of MR Bangur hospital said doctors of the gynaecology and obstetrics department had been shifted to Baghajatin State General Hospital, where they are mostly handling OPD patients.

Calcutta Medical College would handle about 12,000 child births a year on an average, catering to patients mostly from central and north Calcutta. The hospital has 800 beds dedicated for Covid patients. The NRS Medical College and Hospital has 110 beds dedicated for Covid.

“Many people are scared of going to these hospitals, fearing they would be infected with the coronavirus,” a health department official said.

Chittaranjan Seva Sadan and Sishu Sadan Hospital in Hazra had to stop admissions intermittently as several of its doctors contracted Covid, health department officials said.

Rehana Khatun, from Park Circus, had queued up at SSKM’s gynaecology and obstetrics OPD on Thursday. Asked why she did not go to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, which was nearer home, the woman said: “SSKM is a better hospital and also there are no Covid patients here.”

“The footfall at the OPDs of SSKM is near normal, around 10,000 every day. Before the pandemic, it used to be around 11,000 daily. The OPD turnout is almost back to normal because SSKM is a non-Covid hospital,” said an official.