Bengaluru Govt Hospitals May Resume non-Covid Services

Medical staff and students are eager to transfer to non-Covid responsibilities when the second wave fades and hundreds of Covid-19 beds at government centres become available. The Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) has said that non-Covid medical services might be resumed. 

The institute, which is Bengaluru's largest government centre for Covid-19 therapy, has around 700 beds for Covid-19 treatment spread out over two centres: the Tower Block and the Trauma Care Centre. Since June 21, the Trauma Care Centre has not received any new Covid-19 admissions, and BMCRI has just 87 beds filled, including 47 Covid patients.

Dr C R Jayanthi, BMCRI Director, said, "Discussions are ongoing to open up the Tower Block with 550 beds to handle non-Covid patients, while the Trauma Care Centre will continue to handle Covid-19 and Covid-19-related ailments." 

She added, "Many of our students have been out for over a year, and they are eager to return to orthopaedics, surgery, and so on." 

Although sources claim that regular medical services will resume in the Tower Block on July 1, Dr. Jayanthi says that this is contingent on repair work at the 150-bed Trauma Care Centre, which may become BMCRI's sole Covid-19 treatment facility.

Dr Deepak S, Special Officer at the Trauma Care Centre explained "Having been in continuous operation since April 2020, the Trauma Care Centre has developed plumbing and other infrastructural problems. Those are now being fixed." According to Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, there is still concern about an increase in incidents as a result of increased public mobility (health).

Akhtar added: "We have to cater to all types of patients and as the number of Covid-19 patients comes down, we keep increasing the number of beds for other ailments. There might not be a formal direction, but it is happening. It is a continuous process. The reshuffling of medical personnel may also happen. It is intimately linked with the type of treatment being given at a particular hospital."