In Kashmir, doctors say hospitals lack beds for new COVID-19 patients

Srinagar: In a worrying development amid resurge in coronavirus cases, the bed occupancy of all dedicated hospitals has increased many folds.

Official sources told GNS that there are more than 90 patients admitted in the CD hospital including 14 travelers and nine tourists. All the 17 ICU beds in the hospital, one among the exclusive facilities for the management of the covid-19 patients, are already occupied, they said.

Chest Diseases Hospital Srinagar, as per officials has 104 covid-19 dedicated beds while among the 87 total isolation beds, 54 are occupied by the patients, 48 of whom are on oxygen support.

When contacted HOD CD Hospital Dr Naveed Nazir Shah, he told GNS that there has been in last few weeks a surge in the number of cases and admissions.

Our admissions have increased more than four to five times and our hospital is almost running full to capacity. Even in the ICU all the beds are occupied, Dr Naveed added.

In JLNM Hospital Srinagar, also among the exclusive facilities for covid-19 management, 24 beds are occupied while at SKIMS Soura, the tertiary care hospital, 83 out of 253 covid-19 dedicated beds are occupied while among 252 isolation beds, 81 are occupied with 70 patients on oxygen support.

Two days back DAK president Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said that “Kashmir is currently under the grip of a second wave and the cases are rising and hospitalizations too,” he said.

“And if countermeasures are not put in place, we could end up having a situation which could be worse than what we saw last year.”

“This is because vast majority of people in the valley are still susceptible to the virus and the virus will go where it is given room to run, and will find people who are vulnerable to infection,” Dr Nisar said.

Across Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said there are 2739 “dedicated beds” available and 387 are occupied hitherto.
Officials said that though over 80 per cent of the total beds available are vacant across J&K, the cases are shooting up at a fast pace with 1647 cases registered in the two days alone with seven fatalities. The number of active cases stands at 5623—1688 in Jammu and 3935 in Kashmir.(GNS)