General treatment and Influx in number of COVID patients; SMCH worried about resources

Silchar Medical College and Hospital, where most of the ambulances drive in wailing their sirens from all over South Assam and neigbouring states is not quite known for its facilities. The hospital often has to refer patients to Shillong and Guwahati for better treatment. However, the number of patients it treats on a daily basis is at par or higher than most of the other government hospitals in the state. Currently, it is juggling with high number of COVID19 cases in one hand and the general patients in another. The Principal and the hospital administration are burning its midnight oil to figure out resources. Yesterday, 25 patients tested positive and Principal Dr. Babul Bezbaruah feels, at some stage, the hospital might need to treat more than 200 COVID patients which will test the resources.

“We have 80 beds in the COVID ward and we can increase it to 100. At this stage we are covered but if this number continues to rise at this rate, saturation is not that far,” said Dr. Babul Bezbaruah. Some of the COVID patients might need intensive care and for that the hospital administration has kept three beds in the makeshift ICU for COVID patients. In the general ICU (for regular patients) there are 11 beds that are currently operational.

SMCH is currently treating 57 patients. “If we run short of beds in the COVID ward we will have to use the surgery department. In that case, the patients admitted to the surgery ward will be shifted to Orthopedics facility. That will give us an additional 120 beds to use for COVID,” says Bezbaruah.

Beds without medical staff in a hospital is like a fancy car without the engine. While beds can be arranged, with general patients also walking in the hospital authority is worried they would run out of doctors, nurses and other staff. It is worth mentioning here that the staff treating COVID patients needs to stay in isolation for 14 days. “Yes, it is true that we do not have enough doctors and nurses at this stage but we have rolled out a rotation-routine through which we can manage it,” added Bezbaruah.

If sources are to be believed then after yesterday’s 25-new-patient-announcement senior officials held a meeting at SMCH. A source close to the development informed that in the meeting they expressed their concern. “Senior doctors suggested that SMCH must be turned to a COVID hospital and apart from emergency services, everything else need to move to Civil Hospital,” said the source.

A doctor who was present in the meeting said, “In the early days when there was just one patient we had SMCH as a COVID hospital and now when there are so many patients, it is open for general public too. How is this logical? We need to devote resources in SMCH to emergency service and COVID patients. Apart from that, the administration must find a way to treat COVID patients in the respective districts unless the patient is critical and needs intensive care. One hospital treating all COVID patients across districts is not a good idea.”

When asked if there was a meeting and if the doctors made such suggestions, Dr. Babul Bezbaruah refused to comment.