Gandhi Hospital wins laurels for treating over 85K Covid patients

Hyderabad: The State-run Gandhi Hospital has been a nodal centre for treating Covid patients since the pandemic. Its doctors treated more than 85,000 such patients in the last two years.

A programme was organised at the hospital on Wednesday to appreciate the doctors and staff who have been Covid warriors. Officials of the State Public Health department, Director of Medical Education (DME), superintendent and senior doctors thanked the hospital staff for sacrificing their lives in the battle against Covid.

Hospital superintendent Dr M Raja Rao said, "during the pandemic, the doctors had to work despite the death of a family member; they were profusely sweating for wearing PPE in summer."

He said several issues were faced by the women doctors who worked wearing PPEs for long hours even amid fears of contracting the virus."However, not all advances were beneficial for the hospital. It did lose many patients, but not all were Covid deaths. Three deaths and nearly 2,200 in-house infections were reported among the hospital staff," added Dr Rao.

On March 2, 2019, the hospital admitted its first patient who was discharged after testing negative for the virus. Soon after the State was hit by Covid more than 85,000 infected persons received treatment. DME Dr Ramesh Reddy said, "it is the only hospital in Asia to have treated such a large number of Covid patients and also to have successfully conducted surgical procedure."

The hospital's structure has also improved significantly over the last two years, with the addition of over 500 ventilators and oxygen beds. Its oxygen capacity has been increased. Previously, there was only a single Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) tank that had a capacity of 26 KL, which has now been increased by six additional Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) facilities with capacities ranging from 2 to 6 KL apiece. The hospital also hired around 300 employees, including doctors, nurses and patient care personnel.