As COVID intensifies in Kerala, emergency services at govt hospitals face a crisis

Thiruvananthapuram: Emergency treatment services in government hospitals in Kerala are facing a crisis as the COVID outbreak intensifies.

In many districts, ICUs are full with patients and there are no ventilators to spare. ICU and ventilator beds are not available in the government hospitals in Ernakulam and Idukki districts.

The government hospital at Pathanamthitta has no free ICU bed, although it has two ventilators available. ICU beds are not available in Alappuzha, Palakkad and Wayanad.

In all, 813 ventilators have been set aside for COVID treatment in government hospitals. If COVID patients are admitted in these hospitals and provided the ventilators, then the emergency services for other patients get affected.

Patients shunning CFLTCs

The COVID First-Line Treatment Centres (CFLTCs) were started to monitor patients who are asymptomatic or show only mild symptoms. However, such patients are refusing to go to the centres due to lack of adequate facilities and proper security.

It is mostly women who are avoiding these centres, according to reports received by the government, especially after the circulation of pictures of a young woman who spent time at the CFLTC in Parashala became controversial.

Of the 37,049 CFLTC beds in the state, only 256 are occupied at present.

COVID rate will go up further: CM

There are indications that the number of COVID patients in the state would go up even more as the test positivity rate continues to be above 10 per cent even after increase in the number of tests, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

The COVID prevalence and mortality rates in October and November will be crucial in the fight against the disease. The increase in deaths can be prevented only if effective preventive measures are taken, the chief minister said.

As the single day surge in COVID-19 cases reached an all-time-high on Saturday, Pinarayi Vijayan cautioned people to strictly follow the health care protocol to reduce the death rate.

Kerala on Saturday reported 11,755 fresh infections and 23 new fatalities, taking the caseload to 2,77,855 and death toll to 978.

"October and November months are crucial for the COVID-19 mitigation process as we need to effectively fight the pandemic during this time so as to reduce the fatality rate," he said.

He said the health department has been relentlessly working for the past eight months fighting the pandemic and sought necessary support for the health workers.

Fatality rate

The chief minister said the case fatality rate in the state was 0.77 per cent in May, but it was brought down to 0.37 per cent in September.

"We had equipped the state health department to cater to requirements in case of a spike in the cases and the result of that effort can be seen in the reduced fatality rate," Vijayan said.

Kerala Social Security Mission director Dr Mohammed Asheel told PTI that the state successfully delayed the peak spike in COVID-19 cases and in the meantime increased the threshold of the health sector to reduce the fatality rate.

"Case fatality rate is deaths per 100 cases. In the month of May, it was 0.77 per cent. The challenge was to reduce the case fatality rate even if the cases raise exponentially. When the cases increase beyond the system capacity, the death rate will increase. Now it's 0.36 per cent. We have decreased the case fatality rate because we were able to increase the threshold in the health sector," Asheel said.

COVID brigade

The Chief Minister said at least 18,957 people have registered to join the COVID brigade that was formed to assist the health workers.

"In the COVID brigade, 9,325 have joined from the medical field out of which 543 are MBBS doctors. We need the service of more doctors in the state and request them to join the brigade...," Vijayan said.

He said the health protocol including washing of hands and use of sanitiser along with masks and social distancing is a must to contain the spread of the virus.

According to medical experts, the virus may remain on human skin for over nine hours, he said.

"Shops, voluntary organisations, resident associations etc should continue to arrange necessary facilities for the public to wash hands in order to carry forward the 'Break the chain' campaign," Vijayan said.

He hit out at those who refuse to wear the masks despite the pandemic threat.

He also cautioned people not to take the disease lightly and said there are reports of at least ten per cent of those cured having other "serious difficulties."