Doctors stress the need for wearing masks, maintaining social distance and vaccination; say not everyone admitted is a sr citizen
A beneficiary is vaccinated at CSMT on Saturday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Mumbaikars, be cautious. The threat of COVID-19 persists and in the past 11 days, there has been a 187 per cent increase in ICU admissions in private hospitals, and 117 per cent increase in the same admissions in public hospitals. While most of those admitted are senior citizens, some are younger.
People have given up wearing masks, which is the worst thing to happen in the scenario. People are gathering without masks, no social distancing and most patients come to the hospital after they have a fever or to get tested for other illnesses and are found positive for COVID-19. Currently, there are seven patients in the ICU. All are of mixed age groups. Some are young and were detected before surgery but none of them require oxygen support or a ventilator,” said Dr V Ravishankar, CEO, Lilavati Hospital.
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A rapid rise
New COVID-19 cases are growing rapidly and over the past four days the city has been reporting more than 2,000 cases every day; out of which more than 100 patients need to be hospitalised. Some of them need oxygen support while others are in ICU and a few patients are on ventilator. As per the civic data on June 7, 23 patients were admitted to ICUs in private hospitals across the city. On June 19, the number increased to 66. In 11 days, the number has gone up by 187 per cent. Dr Indraneel Raut, intensivist at Jaslok Hospital said, “Currently there are 9 patients in the ICU and 5 are in step down COVID ICU. Most patients [80 per cent] are in the senior citizens category. Hardly anyone is in ICU due to COVID pneumonia, most of them have the aggravation of a problem related to their co-morbidity. Wearing a mask is a must and if you have symptoms, isolate yourself, contact a doctor and seek early treatment.”
A paediatric ICU at Jumbo Covid Centre in Malad West. File pic
The overall ICU bed occupancy has also gone up. On June 7 a total of 53 beds were occupied in both private and public hospitals, but on June 18 the occupancy increased to 131. There are 866 ICU beds available in public hospitals and 643 ICU beds in private hospitals. Till June 18, 65 of these beds were occupied in public and 66 in private hospitals. On June 7, at least 30 ICU beds in public hospitals were occupied, so the rise here is 117 per cent.
Dr Abdul Samad Ansari, director, Critical Care Services, Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, said though the number of critical patients has increased in the past few days, their condition is relatively stable. “Most patients have multiple co-morbidities such as cardiac problems, diabetes, history of organ transplantation, and compromised immune response. But they are responding to treatment and very few need ventilator or oxygen support. The condition of patients is much better than in the second wave, bringing the fatality rate substantially down,” he said.
‘Take precautions’
Dr Joy Chakraborty, COO of PD Hinduja Hospital said, “We have patients in the ICU who are under age 40 and senior citizens with co-morbid conditions. I think wearing a mask is the most important thing right now. The infections are likely to increase, but there is nothing to worry about. The hospitalisation compared to cases is still not as high, but we need to take precautions. So wearing masks and vaccination is important. Public hospitals have also witnessed an over 100 per cent increase in ICU occupancy.”
Dr Smita Chavan, additional dean of SevenHills Hospital said, “Currently we have 41 patients in ICU, most of them are senior citizens and suffering from co-morbidities. Many of them were transferred from private hospitals after having tested positive for COVID. But COVID is not the problem, due to other health issues, we have to keep them in the ICU.”
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