Wave of relief: 90% occupancy to 90% vacancy in Ahmedabad hospitals

AHMEDABAD: In the beginning of May last year, when the city was recording daily cases in the range of 5,000-6,000 similar to the current range, the hospitals were brimming with the patients.
The Civil Hospital witnessed major queues outside and the private hospitals had to set up a system so that the patients don’t die on the road while waiting for a bed — the reason was apparent, about 90% of the available beds were full.
As the city touched 6,000 cases on Sunday, the hospitals were under no duress – even as the number of beds got decreased by 33%, the vacancy was 90%. It was also the scenario at Civil Hospital where out of 1,200 available beds, 114 were occupied by the Covid patients.
“The primary reason is the Omicron variant’s tendency not to target the lungs. Today, 95% of the patients come out of the Covid infection after 3-4 days with milder symptoms. Last year’s surge was due to high oxygen dependency by majority of the hospitalized patients,” said a senior city-based hospital administrator.