High Court sets up committee to tackle emergency situation
Representational Pic
Nagpur: Wednesday the April 7 turned out to be a frightening day in Nagpur as the district not only recorded the highest ever 5338 Covid-19 cases and 66 deaths on a single day since the outbreak but the city private hospitals were left without a ventilator bed amid rise in number of critical patients who are battling for life, according to media reports.
The reports said that the three ventilator beds available only at GMCH too were occupied within a couple of hours. This was probably the first time when none of the private Covid hospitals had a single ventilator as all the 271 remained occupied.
According to NMC data, the city has 441 ventilators including 170 in 10 public and trust-run hospitals. The city was in an urgent need of at least 200 ICU beds on a floating basis per day, said a top GMCH official. IGGMCH officials said they are running 540 beds for Covid. The number of hospitalized patients has now surpassed the number of beds in the city. As per reports, 5,096 patients are admitted against 4,919 beds. There is a difference of 177 patients who are likely to be on wait list or accommodated in casualty or other wards. The NMC vacancy data showed 199 beds but civic officials say it is a dynamic figure which keeps changing frequently due to admissions and discharge.
HC sets up committee to tackle emergency situation:
A worried Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday observed that the Nagpur district is under health emergency and needs immediate steps to stop deaths. A Division Bench comprising Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Avinash Gharote set up a panel named ‘Nagpur Covid-19 Committee’ under Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar and directed him to convene a meeting of all members on Wednesday itself at 5 pm. The High Court asked the panel to submit a comprehensive report on steps needed to tackle the emergency situation.
The directives came while hearing a suo motu PIL (No. 4/2020) based on media reports on bed shortage, where Shreerang Bhandarkar was appointed amicus curiae assisted by Nidhi Dayani. “Health authorities are also experiencing the dearth of doctors and nursing staff. This emergency is required to be addressed comprehensively by authorities to combat the return of pandemic.”
The bench observed all cities in Maharashtra are witnessing thousands of Covid cases. “In Nagpur, it is reported that beds in private hospitals are full and only few are available in government hospitals.” Asking the committee to deliberate over the scenario, the bench told them to chalk out a comprehensive plan for tackling the pandemic. Directing the panel to consider regulating Covid-19 patient admissions in all hospitals, including private ones, the judges pointed out there are complaints about non-serious or non-deserving patients getting beds because of financial status or medical insurance cover. The next hearing will be held on Thursday at 2.30 pm in the judges conference hall.
The Covid-19 panel members are Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar, District Collector Ravindra Thakare, NMC Commissioner Radhakrishnan B, AIIMS Director Dr Vibha Dutta, GMCH & IGGMCH Deans, Ophthalmologist Dr Anil Laddhad, IMA President Dr Archana Kothari, Vidarbha Hospitals’ Association President, MD Medicine Dr Anand Kale, Chest Specialist Dr Ravindra Sarnaik, and MD Anesthesiologist Dr Imran Noor Mohammed.
Source link