COVID-19: Bihar govt hospitals struggle with dearth of equipment

With not enough basic equipment like Personal Protection Masks (PPE), N95 masks, surgical masks, sanitizers, gloves, and even beds to cater for the increasing number of coronavirus positive people in Bihar, the government hospitals face a grim situation in such testing times.

According to an official report, there are a total of only 356 beds in isolation wards of various hospitals and only 274 ICUs with ventilators available in government hospitals – a meager number seeing the swelling population of COVID-19 positive people.

So far, six confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state and nearly 1,066 foreign-return people are under home quarantine, indicating the numbers are expected to grow.

Furthermore, 60 corona suspects are admitted to various government hospitals in Patna, according to a report of the state health department.

Death of Saif Ali who returned from Qatar on March 13 and was allowed to go home by airport officials in Patna throws light on the inadequacy of the Bihar authorities to handle a coronavirus patient.

Family members of the deceased claim that Ali’s health deteriorated as he was being shifted to one hospital to the other. At last, when he was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna, based on his travel history, the doctors collected his blood samples and sent them for a test.

However, he died the very next day on Saturday (March 21).

Once the reports confirmed that Ali died of coronavirus, the whole hospital went into a frenzy.

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Dr K Purushottam, Munger civil surgeon, said, the patient had come in contact with 62 people out of which two tested COVID-19 positive and results are awaited for others.

Ali’s family also pointed out that they did not want to bury his body until reports came, but were forced by the hospital authorities to do so. It is through media they got to know that he died of coronavirus.

A senior official from Sadar hospital, the main government hospital in Munger district confessed that the hospital doesn’t have the infrastructure to treat the corona patients right now.

“We don’t have surgical masks available right now and hence have ordered a local tailor shop to stitch 5,000 masks made of clothes,” additional chief medical official, Munger, Dr Ajay Kumar Bharti said.

The situation is no better in the capital city of Patna.

On Wednesday junior doctors and other medical staff at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) created ruckus at the hospital over lack of basic items such as PPEs, masks and sanitizers.

“We have been on duty without PPE kits and maximum chances are that we could be infected for being exposed to the virus but none is taking note of our concerns,” PMCH Junior Doctors Association president Dr Shnakar Bharti said.

“We are terrified and are working under panic each moment,” said another PMCH staff.

Around 83 junior doctors at the NMCH have written to the government seeking a 15-day quarantine period saying they too have developed the symptoms after coming in contact with the patients.

“Our lives are at risk,” said NMCH Junior Doctors Association president Dr Rav Ranjan Kumar Raman.

On the flip side, dismissing the worries, Dr Ragini Mishra, Bihar nodal officer for COVID-19 said, there was nothing to worry as the state has adequate bed facility for the corona patients.

“In addition to 356 beds available in government officials, we have arranged for 500 more beds and 100-bed quarantine facilities for corona patients is being set up at two places in Bihar. There is nothing to worry now as the number of patients is much lower than the availability of beds,” Dr Mishra said.

“We don’t need much right now since there is also the provision for home quarantine,” she added.

However, experts contest this claim.

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“The available bed facility at government hospitals is not adequate. The situation could turn critical if we move into stage three and the patients start flooding the hospitals,” prominent health expert Dr Rajiv Rajan said.

Suggesting that the government should also rope in private hospitals for help he added, “The government hospitals just can’t cope with the surging demands should we move into stage three although its chances are thin.”

To add on to the problems, there are foreign return people who are fleeing hospitals after witnessing the low-standard medical help and facilities.

A 19-year-old student, resident of Phulwarisharif locality in Patna district had returned to his home from Stockholm on March 19.

The very next day, he himself rushed to the local AIIMS to get himself tested but fled the hospital as he didn’t feel satisfied with the healthcare facility available for the patients there.

“I myself rushed to the hospital for test but kept moving from one room to another. I didn’t see an isolation ward as such. The beds placed there were too close and there was a common washroom for patients. So I returned home without getting tested,” said the youth who later tested positive for the virus.

Another problem is the lack of adequate staff to screen the travellers coming back to Bihar.

In the past few, close to 10,000 people have returned to Patna by trains from Maharashtra and Kerala, the states worst affected with Coronavirus.

Although the government had arranged for screening outside the Danapur railway station, many reached home without any screening.