Agonising Wait For Non-Covid Patients In City

With doctors neck-deep in Corona cases, there’s little relief for thousands of other patients — triggering brawls at hospitals.

- Ajay Kumar and Gulam Jeelani 

ON APRIL 11, there was a tense verbal duel at Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, where a large number of Coronavirus cases are being treated, after a general category patient could not be allowed emergency admission because of overcrowding.

A doctor accompanying the patient said two other hospitals had already expressed their inability to admit him on the same ground.

The incident aptly sums up a parallel health crisis that has begun unfolding at some hospitals in the city. With doctors, both at private and government hospitals, neck-deep in treating COVID19 cases, there’s little relief for thousands of general patients.

Hospitals have either curtailed or shut routine health services in order to keep beds reserved for COVID-19 patients.

“There is a possibility that a general bed was not available that time, said a senior LNJP Hospital doctor who did not want to be named. The hospital has 2,000 beds, half of which are dedicated to Coronavirus patients.

In all, there are 1,291 hospitals and nursing homes, including 1,175 private, across Delhi. They together have 57,709 beds. Over the past weeks, the Delhi government has dedicated six public hospitals for COVID-19. Three private hospitals also have COVID-only beds.

On April 4, the Delhi government shut Out Patients’ Departments (OPDs) at LNJP Hospital and GB Pant Hospital, days after earmarking them for Coronavirus treatment.