With fears of rising demand of ventilators in view of coronavirus epidemic, tertiary care hospitals of Kashmir have started augmenting the poor critical care facilities with additional life support systems.
Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) on Friday received 20 ventilators, the first batch of the 50 it has recently placed order for. The ventilators, medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Farooq Jan said, will be allocated for the isolation ward, meant to provide life support to critically ill COVID19 patients. As per an advisory by union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), “medical infrastructure needs to be prepared for any possible influx of patients on account of COVID19”.
The dearth of ventilators at SKIMS, Kashmir’s premier healthcare institute, has for long been a weak link in the healthcare delivery in Kashmir. Currently, 800-bedded SKIMS has only 38 ventilators. A senior doctor working at the hospital said the over-burdened facility often has to refuse critical patients for dearth of life-support systems. “With the current capacity, it was impossible to handle patient flow for COVID19,” he said while hoping that the newly procured systems would be made functional very soon.
The Institute currently has an 11-bedded isolation facility, with ventilators only for four of these. In addition, there are 20 beds in the quarantine facility. The Institute, Dr Jan said, is also procuring high-flow oxygen masks to prepare for COVID19.
