Typhoid, flu, gastro diseases push up hospital occupancy
Times of India | 6 July 2024
Kolkata: Spread of influenza, typhoid and gastrointestinal diseases has led to a rise in hospital occupancy that had dropped in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in May and June. While it had dipped to almost half at all leading hospitals for several weeks, most now have more than 80% of their beds occupied, highest since early-May.
One of the reasons behind the spurt in occupancy had been a spread of seasonal illnesses, including typhoid, influenza and gastrointestinal diseases, said physicians.The city has been recording typhoid cases over the past eight-10 days.
Planned admissions, surgeries and OPD footfall had started sliding since the last week of May due to elections and the searing heat at that time. The number of patients from Bangladesh, too, had dropped due to travel restrictions during elections. “The recovery turned out to be a slow one; the elections got over but the weather remained harsh for weeks. Those who had deferred their planned surgeries wanted to push them back further till the rains came. Since monsoon had a delayed onset, it took more than a month for occupancy to slide up to the normal mark,” said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra.
Manipal Hospitals, which, too, had seen an occupancy drop since April, is now on a recovery path. “Our bed occupancy has increased by 25% at four units in Salt Lake, Dhakuria and Mukundapur. OPD footfall has risen by 15%,” said a Manipal representative. Elections and the weather had combined to pull down occupancy, said Manipal Hospitals MD & CEO Dilip Jose. “Till June, we had not seen any rise in occupancy,” he said.
The change in weather has pushed up occupancy at Charnock Hospital. “Our occupancy has crawled up by approximately 10% over the past few weeks. This increase can be attributed to the recent rain and weather-change causing respiratory issues, viral infections and waterborne diseases. Also, there have been more cases of injuries related to slippery surfaces and accidents due to wet roads,” said Charnock MD Prashant Sharma.
At Medica Superspecialty Hospital, occupancy has risen to 80% over the past seven days. “Occupancy had dropped though not very sharply. Our ICUs and HDUs are now fully occupied, along with our general wards,” said joint managing director Ayanabh Debgupta. “This year, we have observed over 50% rise in typhoid cases across our OPD and in-patient sections. Gastrointestinal diseases, too, have been common, forcing many to seek consultations,” said Tanmay Banerjee, director of critical care and internal medicine at Medica.
The occupancy at Peerless Hospital is rising slowly but its OPD footfall has climbed up sharply over the past fortnight.
“Our occupancy had dropped to less than 300, while our capacity is 400. Planned admissions came to a near halt in the latter half of May. Since the second week of June, we have seen a gradual rise in surgeries and consequent admissions but our average occupancy still remains 300, which is low. We expect full occupancy by the middle of July,” said Mitra. The hospital has, however, regained its daily OPD footfall of 1,100.
Both outpatient footfall and occupancies have increased at RN Tagore Hospital (RTIICS) over the past seven-10 days. “OPD footfall has gone up by 25% and occupancy 15%. It is expected to continue to rise the over the next few days,” said Narayana Hospitals COO R Venkatesh.