Hospitals treating Covid-19 patients running out of beds, ventilators

Due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the wake of relaxation in the lockdown, Karachi’s public and private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients are running out of beds and ventilators. The number of new Covid-19 infections has seen an alarming increase in the province after Eid as wards dedicated for coronavirus patients in public and private hospitals in the port city are nearly at full capacity and cannot take in any more patients. Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Civil Hospital, Indus Hospital, Dow Hospital (Ojha campus), and other medical facilities are facing an influx of Covid-19 patients. Nineteen beds in an High Density Units (HDU) and seventeen beds in an ICU of the JPMC are occupied while twelve ventilators earmarked for Covid-19 patients with serious condition at the Civil Hospital are too occupied. Sindh Health Department Spokesperson Atif Vighio There is no different situation at the Indus Hospital where neither bed nor ventilator is free. Dow Hospital, Ojha campus also has all its beds and ventilators occupied. All 51 beds and six ventilators earmarked for Covid-19 patients at Ziauddin hospital are occupied. Officials at the Sindh health department said they saw a spike in the number of infections after Eid holidays. It is pertinent to note here that people from interior Sindh and Balochistan bring their patients with number of diseases to the hospitals for advance treatments in Karachi. Sindh Health Department Spokesperson Atif Vighio on Thursday shared the current capacity of hospitals to admit Covid-19 patients in Sindh. In hospitals across the province, there are a total of 222 ICU beds out of which 91 are vacant. The total number of HDU beds is 327, of which 165 are free and the total number of beds in isolation wards is 1,166, out of which 1,030 beds are free. The Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi has almost reached its current capacity for Covid-19 patients. However, hospital services, planned surgeries and clinics remain open, said the hospital in a statement on Thursday. It clarified that “when Covid-19 beds are occupied we cannot safely accept more patients, due to which our Emergency Area specifically set up for Covid-19 patients goes on diversion.”