Visakhapatnam: District administration confident of reducing mortality rate

Visakhapatnam: With more oxygen-supported beds to cater to those suffering from coronavirus, patients can now heave a sigh of relief.

As 500 medical oxygen supported beds in the CSR block at King George Hospital (KGH) have been added to the list of facilities providing treatment to Covid patients, the district administration aims to bring down the mortality rate.

This apart, the CSR block at the hospital has three operation theatres, a lab and an information centre. Each room is connected to the CCTV surveillance as well. An army of 50 doctors, 50 nurses, 100 paramedical and other staff are made available round-the-clock to provide medical services to the patients.

Though there is a rise in coronavirus positive patients in Visakhapatnam, there has been no increase in the mortality rate. However, efforts are on to further reduce the mortality rate by at least 50 per cent.

With the recently installed 20-KL oxygen tank adding to the existing capacity, KGH alone has a capacity of 33-KL medical oxygen to treat Covid-19 patients.

In addition to KGH, Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases, Government ENT Hospital, VIMS Hospital, GITAM Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and NRI hospitals are equipped with oxygen-supported beds.

Cases in the district are likely to come down in the coming days as the administration has intensified the testing exercise and also issued directions to conduct corona tests at primary health centres across the district.

As most Covid-19 deaths are reported due to lack of sufficient oxygen supply, the district officials say that increased oxygen-supported beds aid in bringing down the mortality rate.

"Currently, Visakhapatnam district is registering 1 per cent of deaths due to Covid-19. But with increased supply of medical oxygen now made available to treat the patients, we aim to bring it down further to 0.5 per cent," explains District Covid-19 Officer and KGH Superintendent P V Sudhakar.

Dr Sudhakar alerts those who admit their relatives to private hospitals to keep a tab on the patients' oxygen level. "Most private hospital managements are referring to KGH when the patient's oxygen level drops beyond recovery. This trend should change," he says.