Bhubaneswar: The much sought after government hospital in Bhubaneswar – the Capital Hospital is yet to offer broad
facilities to Covid patients who reach out to the healthcare centre for treatment.
The recent death of a newly-wed woman, a suspected Covid patient, who was allegedly turned away by the hospital on the pretext of lack of beds, has raised many eyebrows. A visit to the biggest state-run hospital revealed that the facility has failed in meeting the needs of patients flocking there during the pandemic.
The hospital currently has only eight beds dedicated to Covid patients and now mainly refers the patients to other Covid hospitals.
The hospital administration, however, asserted that it would initiate strong actions against the staff if it was found that they turned away any patient. Dr Laxmidhar Sahoo, Director of Capital Hospital, told Orissa POST, “I am not aware of any patient being turned away. Any such complaint will be dealt with strongly.”
When asked about the facilities offered by the hospital to the Covid patients approaching them, Dr Sahoo said, “For immediate help, people may rush to our hospital before being referred to any Covid-19 hospital. We can provide a few hours of emergency resuscitation. Capital Hospital is not a Covid hospital.”
According to sources, all the temporary eight isolation beds in the hospital are equipped with bedside oxygen supply to revive patients in emergency situations but they are referred to other hospitals for better treatment. The latest incidence has, however, raised serious questions about the apathy of the hospital towards considering treatment and admission of Covid patients.
Several patients who have approached the state-run hospital have cited gross apathy on part of the hospital and accused the administration of referring Covid patients to SCB Medical College and other government-run hospitals for treatment.
