More than half of the dedicated Covid-19 beds at State’s premier Government-run hospital, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), are vacant after a significant drop in the number of active cases of infection in the state capital, doctors treating Covid patients at RIMS said on Tuesday.
At least 125 of the 218 Covid beds at the hospital were vacant, said the Co-Ordinator of Covid-19 task force at RIMS, Dr. Prabhat Kumar. Of the 22 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds for Covid patients, around 16 were occupied, he added.
“The number of patients has drastically reduced in the past one week or so,” said Kumar. “Around a month ago, we could not even provide beds to all Covid patients who came to us for treatment. There was 100 per cent occupancy, and a long waiting list for patients on most of the days,” he added.
Dr. Kumar, who has been spearheading the team that manages and treats Covid patients at Jharkhand’s largest government hospital, said that the severity of symptoms has also reduced among patients lately.
“Earlier, we had more cases with severe symptoms. Now, most of the patients are either asymptomatic or have mild to moderate symptoms,” said Kumar.
Exactly a month ago, on October 3, there were 3,325 active cases of Covid infection in Ranchi. Cut to Tuesday, the number of active cases was put at 1,697 by the health department.
As per figures compiled by the health department, Ranchi accounts for 32 per cent of the 5,000-odd active cases in Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, Paras Hospital at Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) opened its doors for non-Covid patients this week. The hospital was made a dedicated Covid care centre by the Ranchi district administration four months ago, when Ranchi had fewer Covid beds than patients.
The demand for Covid beds has reduced in private hospitals too. Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital, which has 27 dedicated Covid beds, had 23 patients admitted in the Covid ward on Tuesday. However, all the 10 Covid ICU beds were occupied in the private healthcare facility.
“Most of the cases that we get are referred to us from other hospitals. But around four to five beds are still vacant,” said Anil Kumar, the Associate Vice President of Medica Hospital.
As per latest figures with the health department, as many as 1697 people were battling the virus in Ranchi on Tuesday. The district has so far reported nearly 26,000 cases of infection and over 90 per cent of the patients have recovered.