Hyderabad: In spite of facing shortage of beds and ventilators during the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, no lesson has been learnt as there is no improvement in facilities in Government hospitals.
It was announced that the Gandhi Hospital, which has been treating COVID-19 patients exclusively since the outbreak of the pandemic, will receive non-COVID patients from the onset of the current month. However, in view of the impending third wave, the hospital is not admitting emergency or non-COVID patients. The hospital authorities refer the emergency cases to the Osmania Hospital
More than half of the ventilators in NIMS Hospital are faulty. The working ventilator beds are occupied by the patients and hence no patient is being admitted who needs a ventilator.
In Osmania Hospital, the authorities tell the patients who are in dire need of ventilators that their MRI or CT scan machines are not in working condition and hence they cannot treat the patients.
In view of this deplorable situation in government hospitals, the patients are forced to take admission in Corporate hospitals. But here too, only those patients can take admission who can afford Rs.60,000 to Rs.70,000 per day for ventilators.
Generally, those who are brought to the Government hospitals for an emergency are either accident victims or those who cannot afford corporate hospital bills. If the Government hospitals do not have life saving ventilator facility then where would the poor patients go, people wonder.
Last year, when an accident victim unsuccessfully tried to get admission in NIMS, Osmania and Gandhi hospitals, it came to fore that a large number of ventilator Beds in NIMS is faulty.
Similarly, emergency patients are not being admitted to Osmania Hospital due to defective MRI and CT scan machines. As for Gandhi hospital, it is exclusively treating the Corona patients and hence no other patient is being admitted.