Kolkata: More safe houses, satellite units to keep pace with rising Covid-19 numbers

KOLKATA: With the corona numbers rising by leaps and bounds everyday, healthcare providers — both government and private — have realized that ramping up Covid beds won’t be enough in the long run. Consequently, more satellite health facilities and safe homes are being arranged for to house asymptomatic patients. On Monday, while Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) inaugurated the city’s largest safe home, at least four private hospitals came up with satellite facilities.
A multi-storeyed building at Anandapur off EM Bypass weas turned into as a safe home with 400 beds spread over two floors of the 12-storeyed building, said a KMC source. The civic body will add 600 more beds in phases over the next few months. While the state health department will depute physicians and para-medical staff to look after the patients, KMC will provide infrastructure support and look after its maintenance. The civic body will also conduct regular sanitization of the building.

According to plans, KMC will accommodate asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms. According to a KMC official, priority will be given to people from low-income group and those living in slums.
“These people do not have enough space at home to stay in isolation. Besides, the civic body will give special emphasis on elderly people who may find it difficult to spend the isolation period at home in absence of caregivers,” said a KMC official.
Meanwhile, more private hospitals are setting up satellite facilities to free up hospital beds. “We have started our satellite facility in a hotel in New Town with 19 beds. If need arises, we will look for other properties,” said Prashant Sharma, Charnock Hospital MD. The hospital currently has 57 Covid beds. It will launch homecare services for asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients who can be taken care of at home.
“We are running out of beds. Our satellite facility will be handling mildly symptomatic patients so that the hospital beds can be conserved for the ones who really need hospital care,” said a source at Calcutta Hearth Clinic, Salt Lake.
Out of the 30 Covid beds in this hospital, only three were vacant on Monday. Eleven beds of its 25-bedded satellite facility were occupied on the very first day.
While the satellite facility by Kolkata Port Trust’s Centenary Hospital in Alipore started off with 13 patients on Monday, Fortis Hospital, too, will have its facility operational soon. Earlier, three private hospitals had set up with satellite facilities in the city. Doctors visit these facilities on a regular basis while nurses and other healthcare workers are posted round the clock.