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| Second Covid wave spells doom, 19 die at GMC Jammu | | Amid crisis, Medical Superintendent, head of CD&TB strive hard to hold the fort | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, May 6: The second wave of the COVID-19 has spelled doom as the people continue to die at the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu despite doctors trying their best to save the human lives.
On Thursday of 52 deaths reported in Jammu and Kashmir, 19 COVID-19 positive patients lost their lives at GMC Jammu only. Similarly, seven more patients were declared ‘brought dead’ in the same hospital which is the backbone of the health infrastructure in Jammu province.
During the past fifteen days deaths have been increasing at GMC Jammu.
Shortage of beds as well as liquefied oxygen in Jammu hospitals has worsened the situation.
According to the details available with Early Times all the 650 beds dedicated for Covid-19 patients in the Government Medical College and Hospital as well as CD Hospital, have been completely occupied and the administration has initiated steps to establish over 250 more beds.
According to visuals emerged from the premises of Chest and Diseases Hospital Jammu and in possession of this newspaper, dozens of patients could be seen being administered oxygen in the lawns of the hospital, benches, stairs and in open rather than on the oxygen fitted beds.
As per the testimonies of the helpless attendants, some of the patients were administered oxygen in the open as their reports of CT scan or other tests were pending, while some other patients had been waiting for over three hours but failed to find bed. One of the attendants, whose patient was administered oxygen in the lawn of the CD Hospital complained that the oxygen supply from the cylinder has exhausted and when she asked the hospital staff to change the same, the staff members claimed that only after the second shift would resume only then the oxygen cylinder would be changed.
The emergence of visuals unambiguously signaled towards the fact that like Delhi and other states, where situation had already turned grim and people have been struggling to get oxygen and beds, same types of conditions have emerged in Jammu city also. “Though the administration had been claiming to be fully prepared and declined to have any scarcity of oxygen but the scale with which the infection is increasing and more patients require oxygen supply and beds, the preparations will ultimately turn out to be inadequate”, an attendant said.
A doctor pleading anonymity said that apart from shortage of oxygen and beds, the frontline staff including doctors, nurses and other staff engaged to treat the Covid-19 patients were overburdened and stressed and the administration should also engage more frontline staff to address the increased workload.
Medical Superintendent of CD Hospital Jammu, Dr Rajeshwar Sharma and Professor and Head of CD and TB are trying their best to handle the crisis.
A senior doctor said that in CD Hospital as well as GMC&H, all the 650 beds dedicated for Covid-19 patients are occupied. “In a meeting today, it was decided to increase 250 more beds for Covid-19 patients”, he added
Asked if there was also shortage of oxygen, the doctor admitted that due to increased caseload and demand of oxygen the supply has been exhausting very fast.
On the overall oxygen supply situation in Jammu, the Nodal officer of recently constituted 24X7 Oxygen War Room at Udyog Bhawan Jammu, Madhur Anand didn’t pick up the phone despite repeated calls.
However, who attended the call identified himself as Sachin Gupta said that the war room was taking care of oxygen supply to those patients admitted in their homes but was unable to explain the oxygen supply condition in Jammu province.
Pertinently, according to doctors, hospitals are getting overcrowded as more and more people are arriving with moderate to severe Covid pneumonia, many people test negative but radiologically check suggests Covid.
The government said 4716 new positive cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday taking the total number of positive cases to 1, 96,585. As many as 52 Covid-19 deaths were also reported on Wednesday. Out of 1,96,585 positive cases, 39,628 are active cases of Covid-19. With each passing day, the UT is reporting an increase in fresh Covid cases.
It may be recalled that during the first wave of Coronavirus, GMC Jammu-the major referral hospital in the Jammu region had virtually turned into a battle ground due to internal bickering among the GMC staffers.
Amid the peak of Coronavirus during last year, the then principal, Dr Nasib Chand Digra, a prominent surgeon, had opted for a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) due to infighting and chaos.
Dr. Digra, in a two-page letter to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, had offered to opt for VRS because of the interference in working of the Government Medical College in Jammu by “extra-institutional officials”.
May 1 47 13+5 (Declared Brought Dead)
May 2 41 15+1 (Declared Brought Dead)
May 3 51 24+3 (Declared Brought Dead)
May 4 37 10+5 (Declared Brought Dead)
May 5 52 15+2 (Declared Brought Dead)
May 6 52 19+7 (Declared Brought Dead) |
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