Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, with 1,200 beds, has been converted into a COVID-19 treatment facility in the wake of the spike in the number of coronavirus infection cases in the state. At present, there are 189 patients receiving treatment there. Of them, eight patients are on ventilators. Additional facilities of 920 beds have been readied to treat coronavirus patients.
Coronavirus has once again created havoc in the state. With the number of coronavirus positive cases touching the 1500 mark, experts and top officials are on a high alert and ready to meet the crisis. The D-9 ward of the civil hospital was first converted into an isolation ward for coronavirus afflicted patients.
Now, with the ever-increasing number of pandemic-affected cases, the entire 1,200-bed hospital has been designated as a COVID-19 facility. Earlier, following a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases, 700 beds of the hospital were restored for the treatment of children and women patients. At present, 500 beds are operating for the treatment of coronavirus patients.
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Strength of doctors and nurses
With coronavirus patients coming in from within Gujarat and outside the state to Ahmedabad civil hospital, there are over 350 doctors, 550 nursing staff and over 600 sanitation workers, totalling 1500 to 1700 personnel are in attendance round the clock. In addition to these, there are 130 attendants, 60 nursing students, 120 security staff, 18 biomedical engineers, 20 PROs, 15 counsellors, 46 x-ray and lab technicians and 15 drivers, in all totalling 1725 persons are also providing uninterrupted service.
Doctors of the civil hospital got corona positive
While attending to the corona patients, as many as 517 medical staff, including 17 senior doctors, 202 resident doctors, 56 interns and 189 nursing staff got infected by the pandemic. These are the coronavirus warriors who have been serving the patients without worrying about their own or their family’s safety.
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Facilities for the relatives and children of the patients at the civil hospital
There is a clean room in operation here where small children whose parents are receiving treatment for coronavirus are being looked after by the nursing staff. The children are being provided with nutritious baby food and other requirements.
No relative of the patient is allowed inside the ward, except in the case where the patient is on a ventilator, without wearing protective gear. There is a special large dome where the relatives of the patients can wait, have food and stay.
The relatives of the patients can communicate with them through video calls from mobile phones provided to the hospital staff. There are 50 mobile phones given to the staff for this purpose.
There are in-house dialysis facilities for those corona patients who need dialysis and a plasma bank in the geriatrics ward for senior citizens. There is a 24-hour help desk.
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Ventilator and oxygen facility
In an interview with ETV Bharat’s Parth Shah, civil hospital superintendent Dr J V Modi said in the last 12 months, as many as 55159 outdoor coronavirus patients and in IPD 21033 patients have been examined and treated.
In the 1200 bed hospital with the latest medical facilities, as many as 350 beds have been reserved for critical patients who require to be put on ventilators. Looking at the spike in coronavirus cases, 600 more ventilators have been kept in readiness. So far, 26,34,366 cubic MM oxygen costing Rs 11 crore has been dispensed to the critical patients.
Even when there were more than 1500 corona patients there was no shortage of ventilator and oxygen. There is an arrangement to dispense as much as 20 tons of oxygen. As soon as the supply of oxygen reaches the level of 4 tons, the supplier company is directed to supply an additional quantum of oxygen. In short, the 1200-bed hospital is always in readiness to take care of all the patients round the clock.
The hospital, besides treating patients, also conducts a coronavirus test. So far, 1,83,378 people were tested for coronavirus of who 18,701 were found corona positive. As for the use of Tocyluzumeb injection is concerned, Rs 8.5 lakh worth of 100 units of 80 mg shot, Rs 6 lakh worth of 30 units of 200 mg shot and Rs 1.67 crore worth of 16,328 shots of 400 mg of Remidecever injections were used for the treatment of coronavirus patients.
