Many Covid patients are using political connections to retain ventilator and oxygen supported beds in the new trauma centre at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) even after recovering from the infection and being left with minor residual symptoms that do not require intensive care, doctors from the premiere State-run hospital said on Saturday.
This practice, doctors said, was denying necessary treatment to the needy and severely symptomatic Covid patients amid a rapidly widening gap between the number of patients and the count of available beds in hospitals.
“We have around 100 beds for Covid patients with severe symptoms and at least 20 such beds are occupied by patients who do not need intensive care anymore,” said a RIMS doctor who also holds a senior administrative position in the hospital. “They (patients) use political connections to retain their beds and refuse to shift to non-ICU Covid wards,” he added, requesting anonymity.
Amid the acute crisis of dedicated Covid beds and an unprecedented rise in cases of infection in Ranchi, the practice of “clinging on to” beds with ventilators is adding up to the ordeals of patients who do not have political or bureaucratic connections, say doctors.
Dr. Ajit Kumar, who was on duty at the Covid ward in Sadar Hospital on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, said that around seven to eight oxygen-supported beds in the hospital were occupied by patients who did not need oxygen support.
“During inspection, I noticed that some patients were not using oxygen masks but they were still occupying oxygen-supported beds,” said Dr. Kumar, who also happens to be the joint secretary of Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Ranchi chapter. “I had to force around seven such stable patients to vacate their beds in order to ensure oxygen support to needy Covid patients who were waiting in ambulances,” he added.
Kumar said that panic hospitalization and hoarding of oxygen were making the situation worse in the state capital as many needy patients were unable to get treatment on time due to this practice. Panic buying of Remdesivir injections was also a major concern, he added.
In an order issued on Thursday, the health department directed that all medical colleges in the state other than RIMS will directly function under the supervision of the concerned deputy commissioner until further notice. The decision was taken in the wake of the Covid-19 situation in Jharkhand.
However, a doctor from Sadar Hospital in Ranchi said that working directly under bureaucrats mounted additional pressure on doctors to ensure beds to people who had connections with “affluent” people.
As per government data, there are around 3000 dedicated Covid beds available in Ranchi for the over 14,000 patients. Recently, the government asked all private hospitals to reserve 50 per cent of their beds for Covid patients. However, the shortage of beds still continues to haunt patients in the State capital.