ID adds muscle over 2 pandemic years, gets 300 Covid beds, 15 BiPAP machines – ET HealthWorld

Now armed with well-equipped 300 Covid beds, Bengal’s nodal Covid hospital has kept all its infrastructure ready for any possible surge in future. The hospital on Friday discharged the lone patient from its Covid ward.

The state government had identified the Beliaghata hospital for Covid care since January 2020. From being dreaded by patients who had never stepped into a government hospital to being one of the most sought-after, even by VIPs, the transformation has been made possible by a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

“From healthcare workers preferring to stay away from Covid patients in the initial days to young doctors wanting to work in the Covid ward, the journey has been a long one. In fact, Covid-19 has played a great role in changing the public perception about government hospital’s image,” said pulmonologist Kausik Chaudhuri, the nodal officer for Covid at the state’s first Covid facility.

Handpicked by health officials from Swasthya Bhawan for the job, Chaudhuri had teamed up with the likes of chest physician Sekhar Rajan Paul as members of the Covid care team who were joined by the likes of infectious diseases specialist Yogiraj Ray and paediatrician Raj Shekhar Maity from other hospitals. From taking swab samples from the long queue of international flyers to treating patients and managing their tantrums, the team has gone through it all.

From only one LMO tank, the health department officials ensured a second one before the second wave surge began. A number of equipment like ventilators, HFNC, BiPAP machines and diagnostic gadgets like CT scan facilities were added.

Recognising the role of this hospital, even IT firms like Capgemini came in to equip 15 of its 68 Covid CCU beds. “How team work can put things on the track amidst constraints is something we have learnt from the pandemic. The medical team and the administration, including our MVSP Asis Manna who himself is a reputable microbiologist, has contributed hugely to patient care,” said ID&BGH principal Anima Haldar.

Realising that patients were developing post-Covid complications, the hospital was the first to open a post-Covid care clinic with senior community medicine specialist like Sanjib Bandyopadhyay on the job.

Yogiraj Ray had just returned to Kolkata after completing his superspecialty course in infectious diseases from AIIMS-New Delhi when the pandemic broke out. A doctor known for his counselling ability apart from his expertise convinced young patients like Scotland-returnee Monami Biswas to be a plasma donor for a study.

“I learnt many things professionally. I also met great minds like doctors Dipyaman Ganguly and Prasun Bhattacharya with whom we teamed up for various research works while dealing with patients. Also, the state health officials were proactive in whatever we suggested in contrary to the common perception about departmental red-tape,” said Ray.