Waiting for bed like playing gamble with life in crammed Ongole Government General Hospital
Covid patients receiving oxygen support while waiting for their turn to get a bed at GGH Ongole on Sunday
Ongole: The patients reaching the Government General Hospital in Ongole in ambulances and other vehicles in an emergency are forced to wait for hours to get beds and they have to wait for the discharge of other patients as all beds are occupied.
The son of a Covid patient from Podili, who is on oxygen support at the Covid OP in the GGH, said that though the Chief Minister and the Collector are making announcements that they will provide a bed to the patient within three hours, the reality is different.
He said that they had been at the OP for almost 8 hours and all they could get from the doctors is oxygen support by keeping his father on a bench. He said that waiting for the bed at the hospital is like playing gamble with the life of their beloved suffering for breath.
A doctor on duty at the OP said that they cannot assign beds immediately as the patients walk in. He said that the hospital is already accommodating more than 1000 patients at the normal wards, oxygen support beds and ICU wards.
He agreed that there are only a handful of beds available in the oxygen ward and ICU ward, but they are kept as a buffer for the patients coming from all over the district in real emergency and need of life support.
Dr Diguvinti Sriramulu, Superintendent of the GGH Ongole said that they are making alternate arrangements for the beds in the hospital to meet the demand. He said that they are shifting the gynaecology ward from the GGH Ongole to Mother and Child Hospital in Ongole to make place for around 100 more beds by Sunday evening or Monday morning.
He said that the staff are trying their best to provide all possible help to the patients and their family members waiting at the OP.
He said that they kept four doctors available at the OP and is attending to the patients and providing oxygen support to the required. He informed that the healthcare workers in the hospital are working under pressure and requested the public to cooperate with them.