‘India Now in Stage 3’: Doctor from COVID-19 Hospitals Task Force
This was the revelation made by Dr Girdhar Gyani, the convenor of the Task Force for COVID-19 Hospitals, in an interview to the to The Quint. Gyani attended a meeting of prominent doctors and healthcare providers chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, 24 March.
Community transmission is the most critical stage during an outbreak. At this stage, an epidemic can spread fast in the community and it gets difficult to trace the original source. Gyani said that the coming five to ten days would be essential to control the epidemic because all those who are asymptomatic now, might start showing symptoms.
He also pointed out that the government is still following the old stringent policy when it comes to conducting coronavirus tests, and this needs to change urgently.
‘Govt Does Not Have Enough Testing Kits’
Here are a few questions that Gyani answered for The Quint:
So if a person only has fever then he/she cannot get COVID-19 test done?
No, they (doctor) will tell you to go to a private or government hospital and take fever treatment.
But then the person could be infected?
Yes, he could be. The point is, they (government) fears that these unsure cases might consume all the testing kits. That’s why they are not doing enough COVID-19 tests.
Does the government not have enough testing kits?
No.
Dr Gyani pointed out that the government needs to restrategise and not test only those showing all the symptoms if it is serious about breaking the chain of transmission.
The government has established 118 testing labs, which have a capacity to conduct 15,000 tests every day, said Gyani. Apart from this, 16 private labs are also operative and more are being added every day.
In the meeting chaired by PM Modi, a decision was taken to convert government hospitals into COVID-19 hospitals with the help of private hospitals that can supply medical equipment and trained doctors and medics.
We Are Running Out of Time’
The government plans to set up a minimum of 600 beds in small districts and a minimum of 3,000 beds in COVID-19 hospitals in metropolitan cities like Delhi.
How many hospitals would be required in India?
Let’s say we have a 3 crore population of Delhi, we said we should keep at least 3,000 hospital beds ready. And separate COVID-19 centres would also be required for those who are to be kept in quarantine or those who have recovered from the coronavirus infection. Such centres can be made by converting guest houses and hostels.
‘Transportation of Patients a Big Worry’
But how will the government handle villages and small towns?
In a place like Bijnor in UP, keeping in mind the population, one would need 600 beds. But there are no 600-bed hospitals, only small hospitals exist. So one has to pool so many hospitals together. And one has to ensure that proper transportation arrangements are done to shift patients. That is one important exercise and this is one of the recommendations I have made.
Don’t you think time is really short? Aren’t we running out of time?
I said the same thing in the meeting to the prime minister.
thequint