Infrastructure, drug procurement, doctors, staff ready to handle third wave

Mysore/Mysuru: The Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) that functioned like Mysuru’s backbone during the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is all set to face the third wave and simultaneously, the Omicron threat.

As the fear of a third wave lingers around with a sharp daily spike in cases, the healthcare infrastructure at the Institute is being prepped up to handle thousands of patients. This time too, the MMC&RI and the Hospitals attached to it have been asked to deal with any shortages and ramp up the facilities, including procurement of essential drugs for treatment.

The MMC&RI has been tasked with ramping up infrastructure at K.R. Hospital, Trauma Care Centre, District Hospital, Princess Krishnajammanni Super Speciality Hospital, PKTB Hospital and also at Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Maternity Hospital.

Along with the infrastructure, six teams of doctors with each team having 45 to 50 doctors and para-medical staff have been formed to treat  patients in batches.

At K.R. Hospital, the main wing of MMC&RI, 612 beds have been facilitated to treat COVID patients and of them, 501 are oxygenated, 74 normal beds, 6 are ICU and 31 are ventilator-cum-ICU beds. The K.R. Hospital also should treat non-COVID patients and in all, there are 1,050 beds there. There are 100 oxygenated beds at PKTB Hospital.

In Princess Krishnaja-mmanni Super Speciality Hospital, there are 100 oxyge-nated beds, 16 ventilators, 17 ICU and at Trauma Care Centre there are 12 ventilators, 18 ICUs and 120 oxygenated beds. To treat infected children, 111 beds have been arranged at Cheluvamba Hospital and 27 beds reserved for infected pregnant women.

This apart, the MMC&RI already has the 250-bed District Hospital on KRS Road that is meant only to treat COVID patients with advanced facilities and also the Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Hospital on the JLB Road.

Back-up arrangements

MMC&RI Dean and Director Dr.  H.N. Dinesh told Star of Mysore that the Super Speciality Hospital and Trauma Care Centre will cater to the infected patients in case the beds are fully occupied in the main hospitals — K.R. Hospital and District Hospital.

In the second wave, the Super Speciality Hospital was managed under Public-Private-Partnership model with private hospitals, companies and philanthropists joining hands with the District Administration. It is also equipped with 30 paediatric ventilators, 20 High Dependency Units

Drug procurement

Dr. Dinesh said that procurement of drugs has been stepped up and the administration was in constant touch with the suppliers to ensure that there is no shortage like in the first and second wave. “Essential drugs for the treatment are being procured with orders already placed with the supplier agencies and there will be no shortage of drugs as all medicines will be made available to the patients,” he said.

At present, there are nine patients who are being treated for COVID at K.R, Hospital. Dr. Dinesh said that though the number of patients is less in Mysuru, the positivity rate is a cause for concern. “Those people who test positive but show no symptoms and are healthy are being sent for home isolation and if there are any differences in their health, they are being admitted to hospitals,” he said. All those symptomatic people are being admitted to hospitals though they have not tested positive and isolation wards have been readied. “If they test negative, they are being sent to normal wards while those tested positive are being shifted to COVID ward,” Dr. Dinesh added.