Bengaluru witnesses 90% occupancy of ICU beds

Bengaluru: As there is an increase in the number of infections since the past two weeks, nearly 90 per cent of ICU beds and those with ventilators in all hospitals across the tech capital are presently occupied.

But the situation is not as serious as in other Covid-hit cities where people are sent back due to the non-availability of beds.

A senior health official said, “If you look at the overall bed availability in Bengaluru, the current occupancy is only 65 per cent. With regard to ICU beds and ICU ventilator beds, the occupancy rates were 90 per cent and 92 per cent, respectively on Saturday. The capacity is being ramped up.”

As per the BBMP data, as of Saturday, 5,886 beds in all the hospitals including private hospitals and medical colleges has been designated for Covid-19 treatment. Of these, 2,744 were general beds, 2,519 were high-dependency units, whereas, 334 were ICU beds and 289 were ICU ventilator beds. Around 2,000 beds, including 32 ICU and 24 ICU ventilator beds were vacant. The shortage of beds is now becoming a matter of discussion in Covid-19 management despite the availability of beds. Another health official said, “This is because people are pressing the panic button early.”

“Bengaluru has been reporting around 10,000 cases per day. Of these, only 1,000 to 1,200 patients require hospitalisation because they have comorbidities or their oxygen levels are low. The majority of these seeking hospitalisations go to the top private facilities, which are full. When they don’t get beds, the talk of a shortage gets amplified.”

Twelve private medical college hospitals and 56 private hospitals treat Covid-19 cases in the city. The official said, “There is a rush for ICU beds and ICU ventilators in the top facilities.”

Health minister K Sudhakar said, “Instead of getting admitted to smaller hospitals, patients and their families go around circles knocking on the doors of big hospitals, and report late for treatment.”

A similar situation is being seen in the case of general beds and high-dependency units. Sudhakar said, “Around 90-95 per cent of people turning positive in the second wave don’t require hospitalisation, but they are approaching hospitals out of fear and in the process, they are blocking beds that critical patients can use.”

Some officials are of the view that the second wave is likely to overwhelm the system if daily cases go up to 20,000. “ICU beds are available. We are augmenting capacity by making Charaka Hospital in Shivajinagar operational. With that, we will be adding 150 ICU ventilator beds”, said BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta.