Non-Cov hosp admissions rise to pre-pandemic level in Kolkata

At AMRI Hospitals, around 550 non-Covid patients are admitted; number had dropped to less than 50 during the second wave last April-May while the OPD had to be shut down.

Prithvijit Mitra
  • Updated On Sep 28, 2021 at 08:20 AM IST
Kolkata: The numbers of non-Covid patients and surgeries have crawled back to the pre-pandemic level across most private hospitals in Kolkata. Since August, they have seen a sharp surge in both while the number of Covid admissions remained low and stable — below 50 on an average. The reason is a rush to get deferred surgeries and treatment done ahead of the possible third wave.

At AMRI Hospitals, around 550 non-Covid patients are admitted across its three units at Mukundapur, Salt Lake and Dhakuria — the highest since March 2020. The number had dropped to less than 50 during the second wave last April-May, while the OPD had to be shut down. “Since August, our non-Covid patients have been spiralling sharply and has now reached the pre-pandemic level. In fact, the number of non-Covid admissions and the OPD footfall are rising every day,” said AMRI CEO Rupak Barua.

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AMRI has been receiving around 22,000 OPD patients a month since August. “There’s a huge backlog of patients requiring surgeries, procedures and consultations that were deferred during the first and second waves,” said Barua. AMRI has 50 Covid patients across its three units now.

Peerless Hospital has seen non-Covid admissions jump to 320 while the number of Covid patients is 23. Fifty surgeries have been done each day on an average this month, which is more than double that of the pre-pandemic period, said CEO Sudipta Mitra. “Since the pandemic, we have never had more than 300 non-Covid patients,” he said.

OPD footfall, which had dropped to less than 200 after the second wave, has touched 550 a day at Peerless. “Before Covid, average footfall at our OPD was 700 since we received patients from Bangladesh, which has now stopped. Otherwise, OPD attendance would have reached the pre-pandemic level,” Mitra said.

At RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS), the number of non-Covid patients has swelled to 430 while the hospital has just 21 Covid patients. “We have seen a constant increase in non-Covid admissions over the last few weeks and it has reached its highest since the beginning of the pandemic,” said RTIICS zonal head R Venkatesh. OPD footfalls are currently at 1,300 per day compared to 350-400 during the second wave.

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No bed is vacant at Belle Vue Clinic that has 20 Covid patients out of 200 admitted. “There’s still a huge backlog of non-Covid patients waiting for admission,” said CEO P Tondon. OPD footfall has reached 700 a day compared to less than 10 during and after the second wave.

At Medica Superspecialty Hospital, 280 non-Covid patients are admitted — the highest since the first wave. “We have just 19 Covid patients,” said Medica chairperson Alok Roy. The OPD footfall here has touched 1,000 a day.

  • Published On Sep 28, 2021 at 07:50 AM IST
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