Visakhapatnam: Oxygen ambulances serve as ICUs

Visakhapatnam: As the district witnesses a surge in active coronavirus cases, patients and their relatives continue to wait for hours to get admission into government hospitals.

Given the current situation, it is quite unpredictable to assess how long a critical patient needs to wait to gain access to the hospital treatment. As a result, many ambulances are being used as a treatment point, especially when the patients had to wait for a long time to get admitted into a hospital.

Those who fail to access hospital treatment even after waiting for hours in the ambulance are approaching private institutions. However, the situation in private hospitals is equally worse as they too suffer from a shortage of beds.

In the process of shifting from one point to the other, some of the critical patients are succumbing to the virus as the shortage of beds in both government and private hospitals mount.

Owing to a dip in oxygen levels, critical Covid patients are seeking hospital admissions.

Since there are no immediate admissions coming in handy, some of the hospitals are treating the patients in the ambulance itself. Here, the oxygen-equipped ambulances can serve a critical Covid patient for a while.

The recent incidents that took place in King George Hospital reflects the present situation of the patients' experience in the government-run Covid hospitals. Two days back, parents of an 18-month-old baby came to KGH and was left to wait to get admission for their daughter.

However, the child was treated in an ambulance for a couple of hours. In another incident, a 14-year-old girl was treated in an ambulance for a few hours before getting admitted into KGH.

Unfortunately, both lost their lives.

Meanwhile, the hospital authorities claim that most patients are being shifted to government hospitals after they had undergone treatment in private hospitals and arrive in a critical condition.

Along with government ambulances, even private ambulances are seen providing critical care to Covid patients right in front of the hospitals.

On the other hand, medical personnel mentioned that they are facing extreme pressure and worried over providing consistent service to the patients while overcoming staff crunch.

Given the current scenario, it remains to be seen when the situation is likely to improve.