At current, India has solely 75,000 to 90,000 ICU beds
Forecasting that the COVID-19 pandemic is barely going to worsen, famous surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty has stated India will need an additional 5 lakh ICU beds, 2 lakh nurses and 1. 5 lakh medical doctors within the subsequent few weeks, and likewise steered radical options to fulfill the mountainous problem.
At current, India has solely 75,000 to 90,000 ICU beds and nearly all are already occupied – when the second wave of the pandemic hasn’t even reached its peak but, he stated. India is reporting about 3.5 lakh circumstances a day, and a few specialists say the quantity might go as much as 5 lakh circumstances every day at its peak.
While a lot of the newspaper headlines and prime time tv protection has been over the shortage of oxygen for the sufferers in ICUs, “I am having sleepless nights for the next headline, which is going to be that patients are dying in ICUs because there are no nurses and doctors to take care of the patients,” he stated.
“And this is going to happen. I do not doubt it now,” stated Dr Shetty, the chairman and founding father of Narayana Health, a sequence of 21 medical centres in India, in his on-line handle on the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series in Pune not too long ago.
He identified that for each affected person who’s examined optimistic, there are 5 to 10 people who find themselves optimistic however not examined. That means greater than 15 to twenty lakh persons are getting contaminated day-after-day in India even now. Statistically, 5 per cent of the optimistic sufferers need an ICU mattress, regardless of their age. On a median, a affected person in ICU spends not less than 10 days there.
“So you can just imagine what the scenario is. Know what we need to do? We need to create at least five lakh additional ICU beds in the next few weeks,” he stated.
“Unfortunately, beds do not treat patients. We need nurses, doctors and paramedics in that order,” he stated, mentioning that managing COVID sufferers efficiently in ICUs relies upon totally on nurses, not medical doctors. Even earlier than the beginning of the pandemic, authorities hospitals throughout the nation had a scarcity of 78 per cent of medical specialists.
“Now, we need to produce at least two lakh nurses and at least one and a half lakh doctors in the next few weeks who are dedicated to managing COVID for the next one year. Because the current pandemic is likely to last for about 4 to 5 months. And then we should be prepared for the third wave,” he stated.
Dr Shetty then proceeded to offer out-of-the-box options for assembly that need. He stated India has about 2. 20 lakh nursing college students who’ve completed their three-year GNM (General Nursing and Midwifery) or four-year B Sc programs in numerous nursing colleges and faculties throughout the nation who’re making ready for his or her examination scheduled to happen within the subsequent few weeks.
He steered that the Ministry of Health, together with the Indian Nursing Council, ought to take into account these college students as graduates and deploy them to work in COVID ICU wards for one 12 months, after which they will be given commencement certificates.
They may be given choice over others in authorities jobs, he stated. “Take the approach of drafting for the armed forces when there is an impending war with the enemy country . This is not peacetime. It is wartime.”Â
“If that’s performed, I’m satisfied most of those women and boys will be a part of the battle towards COVID. The battle can’t be received by medical doctors of my age. No warfare could be purchased by fought by individuals of my age. You need younger individuals. Most of them are vaccinated and they’re naturally in a greater place to battle COVID in case they get it.
He stated there are additionally 1. 30 lakh younger medical doctors at the moment, working not in COVID ICUs however making ready for NEET exams to get into post-graduate programs the place solely 35,000 positions can be found. An on-line check for NEET needs to be carried out instantly and outcomes declared in a number of days.
After permitting the 35,000 seats, there will be nonetheless one lakh younger medical doctors who’re omitted, who did not get the PG seats. They needs to be supplied an opportunity through the subsequent 12 months’s PG choice in the event that they work within the COVID ICU for one 12 months, he stated.
Additionally, there are about 25,000 medical doctors who’ve completed their postgraduate coaching and have not but appeared for the examination. This batch of medical specialists needs to be advised that they’ll skip the examination and get the diploma offered they work within the COVID ICUs for one 12 months, he steered.
Also, there are between 90,000 to 1 lakh medical doctors who graduated from abroad universities who have not been capable of cross a nationwide entrance examination. “Identify 20,000 brightest of these kids and ask them to work in COVID ICU for one year for getting a permanent registration,” he stated.
“If we can do this successfully in the next few weeks, believe me, we would have conquered the COVID battle. Otherwise, the consequences can be very very very serious, mainly because just admitting a patient in a COVID ICU and giving him some oxygen is not going to save their life,” he concluded.
“When the oxygen drops, they need proning. And somebody has to monitor their blood gases. All this is done by nurses and junior doctors. The current doctors and nurses who are taking care of COVID patients across the country have done a fantastic job during the first wave. Now they are tired. They are fed up.”Â
They are burnt out. A variety of them are getting contaminated. “Unless we create a parallel workforce for COVID ICUs, believe me, there can be a problem,” he stated.
He acknowledged that each one his hypothesis concerning the variety of COVID sufferers and the estimate of ICU beds wanted could also be improper. “But what if I am right and it is too late?”Â
