Can't reserve 50% beds for Covid-19 patients, lack of doctors, nurses: PHANA

Urging the government to rethink its June 23rd order to private hospitals to reserve 50% of their total bed capacity to treat Covid patients referred by the government, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) said they had no doctors, nurses, paramedics and housekeeping staff to simply sustain their operations anymore.

Follow latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic here

On Wednesday, the government instructed hospitals to display the number of beds available for treatment of Covid patients referred by the BBMP at the respective hospital counters. PHANA has 384 member hospitals in Bengaluru.

"58 hospitals have shut shop after the lockdown. Despite severe shortcomings, we are functioning. Actions like those taken on Apollo and Vikram Hospital will only demoralise hospitals further," Dr Prasanna HM of Pristine Hospital said who is the President-elect of PHANA.

Dr R Ravindra of Suguna Hospital who is the President of PHANA said hospitals have no doctors, nurses, paramedics and housekeeping staff. "We don't know where to accommodate Covid patients who approach us directly, Covid suspects and non-Covid-19 patients. During our discussion with the government prior to the June 23 order, 50% reservation for government-referred Covid patients was not what was suggested," Ravindra said.

Explaining the problems of the hospitals, Prasanna said doctors, nurses and paramedics had either gone back to their native places, are infected or are refusing to work in fear of catching the infection. "Even if we offer double salary, life insurance and medical insurance, health workers are not coming forward to work," he said.

There is an acute shortage of attenders, sweepers, ward boys inhospitals. 30% of nurses have disappeared. "We have no anesthetists or intensivists as they are at great risk of getting infected by the aerosols produced by Covid patients when they are intubated. At least 6,000 nurses have gone back to their villages. There was 30% attrition
even before the Covid admissions started. At least 6% of our staff are infected," Prasanna said.

Ravindra explained that 34 mid-sized to small hospitals have closed apart from seven to eight large hospitals since the start of the pandemic.

"Today, there are 19 regulations that we have to follow to function. We simply don't have the administrative bandwidth to comply with the norms. We have only 8,500 beds in Bengaluru as opposed to the 15,500 beds claimed by the government. Among those 40 are maternity, 20 are eye hospitals, 15 are day care centres, nine are cancer care and nine are kidney care centres that simply cannot function as Covid hospitals," Ravindra explained.