BANGALORE (UCAN): As India continues to add more than 300,000 Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) patients daily, Catholic leaders have suggested ways to meet the needs of the thousands approaching their health facilities.
“Our hospitals are full and there is no scope for fresh admissions unless the patients in the hospitals are discharged,” Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, in Karnataka state. explained on April 28.
“It is not a solution to tell critically ill patients that we have no space for them. They need immediate medical care, especially those in need of a life support system,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Machado has instructed Catholic hospitals in the archdiocese to convert Catholic schools and institutions close to each hospital into care centres to take care of non-critical Covid-19 patients.
“This way we can spare more beds in hospitals for critical patients. Those who have crossed the critical stage can continue to get their care in the temporary centres,” the archbishop said, noting that the city has 12 Christian hospitals including St. John’s Medical College, which is managed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
“But all our hospitals are full and we are helpless to admit new patients. St. John’s has admitted close to 500 Covid-19 patients and every day we get distressed calls for fresh admissions. We can do nothing,” Archbishop Machado said, adding that government permission is needed to convert a non-hospital facility into a Covid-19 care centre.
‘But all our hospitals are full and we are helpless to admit new patients. St. John’s has admitted close to 500 Covid-19 patients and every day we get distressed calls for fresh admissions. We can do nothing’
Archbishop Peter Machado
“I have also made this offer to the state government” but the government has not yet responded, he said.
The Church is also ready to offer its institutions near government hospitals to be used as temporary care centres. “The need now is to save lives,” he said, adding that he has also offered the help of volunteers to supplement hospital staff.
Since mid-April, India has been reporting more than 300,000 new Covid-19 cases and 2,000 deaths daily, with the tally increasing each day.
People are frantically searching for oxygen cylinders and Remdesivir injections. ‘In the meantime, some predict that worse things are yet to come,’ the bishop wrote.
On April 28, the country reported a record 360,960 new cases and 3,293 deaths as hospitals in major cities and towns struggled with a lack of beds and oxygen. Patients could be seen sharing beds and lying on the floor in many hospitals.
A hospital official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many doctors, nurses and paramedical staff are exasperated by the unceasing work. “Some have even left the job,” he said.
Church leaders have appealed to people to follow Covid-19 protocols and remain at home as the only remedy to protect them from the pandemic as medical treatment, even in critical cases, has become nearly impossible.
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Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore, wrote an open letter to people in his diocese on April 27, lamenting, “I could not arrange for a bed in our hospital for your dear ones. It was because there were no beds available. All hospitals are full,”
Bishop Thottumarickal wrote, “Times are hard for everyone. Every day we hear about the death of someone dear. If not death, a friend is in a ventilator or ICU. Those who get a bed in the hospital are lucky.”
People are frantically searching for oxygen cylinders and Remdesivir injections. “In the meantime, some predict that worse things are yet to come,” the bishop wrote.
Catholic hospitals in the worst-hit cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi are also full and patients had to be turned away.
“We had to turn away Covid-19 patients as we have no beds available,” said Sister Sneha Joseph, administrator of the Holy Spirit Hospital in Mumbai’s Andheri area.
“We feel sorry when critical patients are not admitted. The severity of the second wave is 100 times more dangerous than the previous one,” Sister Joseph said.
