Most hospitalisations in Mumbai in 3rd wave due to other reasons: Doctors

20 January,2022 07:52 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  A Correspondent

Doctors say most Covid-19 hospitalisations this time around were incidental as patients were admitted for some ailment or the other and were later found to be infected with Coronavirus after tests

A health worker collects swab sample of a passenger at Dadar. Pic/Ashish Raje


Amid steady drop in Covid cases in the city, doctors said that most hospitalisations during this wave are incidental, wherein the patients were admitted for some other reason and were found to be positive.

"Many of the indoor patients are those who were admitted for other ailments (e.g. cardiac, liver, kidney problems or surgical complaints) and are incidentally detected as positive for SARS-CoV-2 while in the hospital. Pregnant women, too, are getting admitted, but mainly for pregnancy related issues and are largely asymptomatic from Covid point of view," said Dr Mala Kaneria, consultant, department of Infectious Diseases, Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre. She added that most of the Covid admissions are of individuals with other comorbidities, who are mildly symptomatic, and that many of the patients do not even require oxygen.

"We are in the midst of an Omicron-dominated third wave of Covid-19. However, cases due to the Delta variant also coexist," said Dr Kaneria. Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO, Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, said RT-PCR is a must for any kind of admissions. "We have been seeing cases of people who get admitted for various kinds of surgeries, even pregnant women who are admitted for deliveries, testing positive. We come to know that the said patient is positive only when we conduct RT-PCR test prior to surgeries," he said.

As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's report, out of 38,116 available beds only 5,265 beds are presently occupied. Of the people who tested positive, on an average 83 per cent are asymptomatic. According to the data available, only 33 per cent ICU beds are occupied in private and 11.18 per cent in public hospitals. Among the ventilator beds, 46.34 per cent beds are occupied in private and 35.18 per cent in public hospitals.

"Most of the people who are symptomatic do not need hospitalisation. The symptoms settle down within three days. There are two factors to it. Most of them are vaccinated and the strain has been milder," said Dr Gautam Bhansali, physician, Bombay Hospital.

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Coronavirus Omicron brihanmumbai municipal corporation mumbai mumbai news
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