ITBP Referral hospital treats over 1,150 Corona patients

New Delhi: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Referral Hospital in Greater Noida, around 20 km from the national capital, has successfully treated 1,150 Covid-19 patients from Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and the Central Police Organisations (CPO) fraternity as well as their families since the pandemic hit India, an ITBP statement said.

The 200-bedded hospital has so far treated 91 personnel from the Border Security Force, 196 from the Central Reserve Police Force, 200 from the Central Industrial Security Force, 289 from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, 159 from the Sashastra Seema Bal, 83 from the National Security Guard and 64 from the Special Protection Group.

Also 15 personnel from the National Investigation Agency, 10 from the National Disaster Response Force, one from the Bureau of Police Research and Development, 19 from the Intelligence Bureau, three from the Central Bureau of Investigation, seven from the National Technical Research Organisation and five from the Ministry of Home Affairs have also been treated at the hospital till September 8.

Equipped with specialised facilities like hip replacement, knee replacement, dialysis, non-invasive cardiology, laparoscopic surgical procedures and cancer screening at the state of the art building in Greater Noida, the hospital is no less than a unique super specialty hospital, the ITBP said.

During the lockdown, several police personnel of various forces got infected while engaged in internal security duty or serving in containment areas, and faced real difficulties in getting beds in the hospital in the Delhi-NCR area. During this time, the facilities of the referral hospital for all the uniformed forces and other sister agencies and their families were opened up.

However, no doctor or hospital staff suffered any Covid infection despite being exposed to the disease for long periods of time during their duty, the ITBP said.

According to Dr D.C. Dimri, the ITBP Referral hospital has been significantly equipping, staffing and morale boosting of all ranks due to active motivation and support of the force's chief S.S. Deswal.

"DG (Director General) has taken keen interest in each and every detail of hospital functioning and ensured that nothing falls short for patients," he said.

The patients have expressed their gratitude to the doctors and the hospital staff for immaculate arrangements and personal care extended to them.

"The hospital is treating Covid positive CAPF personnel and their families with virtually no expenditure. The hospital has a very high recovery rate which is almost 100 per cent (one patient died of heart attack). This is way higher than the national recovery rate of 78 per cent, despite the fact that 25-30 per cent of admitted patients were having other comorbidities, along with the Covid infection like cancer, TB, heart disease," the ITBP said in a statement.

"Around 8-10 per cent of the patients were critically ill at the time of admission with major breathing difficulty. This is a serious situation. Such patients may lose their life fast and require continuous monitoring and oxygenation."

Inaugurated in 2018, the hospital has been a dream project of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the ITBP. It is serving the purpose with its specialist team of various medical science streams such as medicine, general and laparoscopic surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, paediatrics, anaesthesia and pain management, ophthalmology, psychiatry, orthopaedics, radiology, pathology, ENT, dental section, and physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

More than 50 experienced specialists and other doctors are serving at the hospital, which has earned the reputation of an excellent health care and cure centre in the country, in a very short time, the paramilitary force said.