Nursing Homes for COVID: Congress questions exemption of Rajdeep Roy’s hospital; Admin rules out political influence

A month-old letter written by Joint Director Health Services, Cachar, Dr. Sudip Jyoti Das surfaced yesterday and spurred a controversy. The letter was addressed to the proprietors of eight private nursing homes in Silchar requesting them to reserve 10 – 15 beds each for accommodating COVID19 patients.

Jeevan Jyoti Institute of Medical Sciences, a hospital that was inaugurated by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal in June 2018 and has Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy in the board of directors was exempted from the list. District Congress, a month after the letter was sent, published it on the social media platforms and asked a question on behalf of the general public – “Why the name of the hospital at Meherpur, owned by Dr. Rajdeep Roy (#MP Silchar), is not enlisted by the joint director?”

The letter was written to the proprietors of Mediland, Southcity, Cachar Cancer Hospital, Green Heals Hospital, Nightangle Hospital, Valley Hospital and Research Centre, Gracewell and Medinova. When asked why is JJIMS exempted from the list, the joint director replied, “We have only listed full-fledged nursing homes.”

He questioned, “Why is this letter being discussed now?” “After issuing the letter we met the hospital owners and they expressed their displeasure. Following which, the administration started looking for public properties that could be converted as makeshift COVID Care Centres,” the joint director added.

The administration, however, said it was always in search of new beds and that has got nothing to do with the private nursing-home owners, “We have 700-bed capacity as of now and we are working to create more,” said additional deputy commissioner of Cachar Sumit Sattavan.

He added, “District Administration will follow what instructions will be given by Dispur. It has happened in Kamrup Metro that private hospitals have been made to support COVID fight, on payment basis. The meeting we held with private was a precursor to request them to think on those lines. As we head towards more numbers, we need to think about how we can bring in more resources.  Private hospitals are supporting across the nation. We have no doubt private hospitals in Cachar will also step up when called upon,” the ADC asserted.

The meeting he is referring to here is the meeting between hospital owners and administration on July 14, 2020, “The letter, if you read carefully, says requested, how does one interpret the request as an order. It was based as directed in the reference letter from Director Health Services, Assam. Creating uproar over a requesting letter is a non-issue and doesn’t deserve any more time investment.”

He made it clear that the administration had nothing to do with the hospitals shortlisted by the joint director. When questioned about discrimination, Sattavan ruled it out by saying, “From the very beginning we have been saying this and I reiterate, during Corona, no political influence has been attempted.”

Director of Green Heals Hospital, Rudra Narayan Gupta echoed what Sattavan said and assured that the private hospitals won’t shy away if needed to provide assistance in fighting COVID. But there are several issues that he says needs to be taken into account. Most of the private hospitals have one entry and exit points, the facilities are not always isolated… “Keeping all that in mind, we had suggested to the administration to give us a building and all the eight hospitals will jointly provide the infrastructure,” said Gupta,

He believes that creating an alternate facility using the resources of private hospitals will help both the administration and the nursing homes. “We want to support the government and the administration and if needed, we will treat COVID patients at Green Heals. But instead of 10-15 beds in one hospital, creating an alternate facility will be better in my opinion. In that case, not only asymptomatic but we can also have ICU facilities and treat symptomatic patients,” suggested Gupta.

Doctor Kishore Upadhyay of Mediland Hospital also said that they are willing to support the government and administration in all possible means. Like Gupta, he too believes a separate building will be a better option.

“There are a lot of issues that we need to be discussed- infrastructure, paramedics, doctors, cleaning staff, training, cost, managing the complicated cases, availability of PPE and other drugs, tests for COVID and their follow-ups, shifting of serious patients to COVID ICU facility. A detailed discussion is needed between the administration and the stakeholders to reach a conclusion or else it will be a mess,” said Upadhyay.

Other proprietors who wished not to named said that the biggest fear is once private hospitals start treating COVID patients, others won’t get admitted due to the Corona-scare in the society. An owner said the treatment of non-COVID patients must not be forgotten. “Today every private nursing home has its own specialities. People go to Green Heals for Intensive Care, to South City for Orthopaedics to Mediland for diabetes and dialysis… The health care infrastructure in SMCH and Civil is already under stress and if we start accommodating COVID patients in private nursing homes, where will the common people go for other treatments?” questioned a proprietor.

He suggested, the administration should instead look at the Red Cross Society Hospitals. “They have a huge capacity, training centre for nurses and is partly funded by the government. If needed, we can provide resources – both in terms of manpower and equipment to ramp up Red Cross as a fully functional COVID hospital,” said the owner on condition of anonymity.

None of the owners we spoke with questioned the list that was shortlisted by the joint director and the exemption of JJIMS from it. “This is not the time for inter-hospital rivalry. Shortlisting hospitals is the prerogative of the government and I don’t see any foul play in exempting JJIMS,” said an owner of a private nursing home who is also a part of the local association.

JJIMS is a fully-functioning hospital but it is true that some parts are still under construction. The 500-bed multi-storey nursing home located in Meherpur was not included in the list of nursing homes that signed a memorandum of understanding in March to provide health care at the government price when SMCH was designated as a COVID Hospital. Congress’ question on why Rajdeep Roy’s hospital is exempted remains partly unanswered. For now, the administration and the health care workers are in a war and as Sattavan said, the priority of the administration is to ensure it has enough beds and if necessary it will use beds in private nursing homes. Maybe the joint director has saved JJIMS for later or they do not consider it as a fully functional nursing home. Why Congress decided to question the Joint Director a month after the letter was issued also remains unanswered.

Overall, the private hospitals made it clear that they won’t shy away from assisting the administration but placed in their suggestions. The administration, on the other hand, has ruled out political influence and discrimination. All will now depend on the numbers of COVID positive cases in the district and how it rises.