Combating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will prove to be a long, time-consuming battle, feel medical professionals.
While doctors and scientists in the country have managed to fight and prevail over many dreadful diseases over the years, this virus is unlike anything they have ever seen before, say experts.
In Anantapur district, which has a population of over 40 lakh, the government healthcare infrastructure is limited to only around 3,000 beds in all hospitals — from the tertiary to superspecialty level — and around 6,000 beds in the private sector, including the world-class Sri Sathya Sai Baba Super Specialty Hospital in Puttaparthi.
The government needs to plug key infrastructural shortfalls — chiefly the lack of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for staff in isolation wards, and ventilators for the critically ill. The Government General Hospital in Anantapur is getting 100 cloth PPE suits for paramedics and doctors in case the disposable ones are exhausted and the demand rises.
The district has 500 N-95 masks, 1,100 ordinary masks, 60 personal protection kits and 1,500 pairs of gloves, which are essential in isolation wards.
Currently, 1,015 persons hailing from Anantapur have been identified with a recent foreign travel history, but only 838 of them could be traced and are being monitored in home isolation. Of them, nine with symptoms have been admitted to the isolation ward of the Government General Hospital here, District Medical and Health Officer K.V.N.S. Anil Kumar told The Hindu.
In all, 655 persons have not yet completed 14 days of isolation and observation; COVID-19 symptoms manifest anytime between three and 21 days, say doctors.
A.P. Vaidya Vidhana Parishad has 1,010 beds at its 19 hospitals in the district, and has only 120 doctors against a requirement of 189, APVVP District Coordinator of Health Services N. Ramesh Nath said.
An under-construction superspecialty hospital near JNTU in Anantapur will be converted into a 200-bed COVID-19 hospital in the days to come, with 56 beds ready as of now. If the need arises, all 500 beds at GGH Anantapur would be converted into COVID-19 isolation wards as no other patient would be admitted. We have also stopped elective procedures, GGH Superintendent M. Ramaswamy Naik said.
