In July 2014 nearly 409 road accident victims in the city required ICU care
Victoria Hospital
Bengaluru : The silicon city that houses more than one crore people and is boasted as the health hub of the State sadly has very few dedicated ICU beds at its government hospitals. In July 2014, nearly 409 fatal road accidents have happened in the city requiring ICU care but sadly even though the city accident rates are increasing the government hospital’s ICU beds are short numbered compared to the number of intensive care cases coming to them.
Victoria Hospital has around 17 ICU beds for adults which is quite less compared to the increasing number of patients that come after accidents or strokes. “I had taken a patient in serious condition to Victoria Hospital and they could not accommodate him at the ICU as there were no ICU beds at there hospital as all were full,” says Tippu Shariff who had a tough time getting a patient an ICU bed at Victoria. Bowring hospital has a mere 24 ICU beds for adults and 20 for children which again is less compared to the number pouring in the hospital after accidents.
Even though huge sums are invested on tertiary and primary care, ICU beds being the basic component seems to be overlooked. Government-run Vanivilas hospital catering to obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics and paediatric surgery seems to be battling the issue of paucity of ICU beds. “We need more ICU beds and are trying to accommodate every child who comes here and we have not sent any child outside. Sometimes we are also managing with two children on the same bed,” says Dr Some Gowda Medical Superintendent, Vanivilas Hospital.
NIMHANS witnesses around 130-150 emergency cases with almost 110 head injury cases coming to them on a daily basis. “There is a need for more ICU beds and ventilator beds at NIMHANS,” says Dr P Satishchandra, Director-Vice Chancellor, NIMHANS. According to Dr Mabel Vasnaik who is currently working as a consultant & head, adult emergency department, Manipal Hospitals, “any trauma case from both moderate to severe definitely needs ICU care.
If it is moderate trauma case then the patient needs to be in observation till they stabilise and if it is severe the patient needs to be in the ICU till they recover.” Dr Mabel further says that the hospitals that do not have adequate number of ICU beds should atleast have a good step down ward. “If hospitals do not have ICU beds the they should atleast have trauma beds and good trauma units with good trauma care including good monitoring,” adds Dr Mabel.
Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular sciences and Research has a total bed strength of 600 of which 170 beds are dedicated ICU beds but with increasing number of patients pouring in the hospital seems to be a concern for the Institute.
“It is hard to manage and we do have temporary ICU beds (stretchers which can be converted into beds).We have sixty beds for surgical ICU and 100 ICU beds for coronary care. Daily we witness around 30 patients on an average and 30% of the ICU beds are occupied by chronic cardiac illnesses which can be treated at ICUs of other government-run hospitals. They need to expand ICU beds in these hospitals,” says Dr C N Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute.
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