Vadodara: VMC allows hospitals to turn hotel rooms into extended Covid facilities

Bhailal Amin General Hospital in Gorwa is tying up with Hotel Best Western in Alkapuri for a facility of 50 beds, while Jupiter Hospital, Sun Pharma Road will service a Covid care facility of 50 beds at a real estate project Velani Hub in the vicinity. (Representational)

In anticipation of the upcoming Covid-19 peak in many zones of the city, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), on Friday, allowed private hospitals to provide their services at alternate premises such as hotels and property projects in the city to increase the overall capacity.

Eight city hotels and one real estate project will serve as free Covid care centres, adding up a total of 326 beds in order to take the load off private hospitals, which can be used for critical care, officials said.

Bhailal Amin General Hospital in Gorwa is tying up with Hotel Best Western in Alkapuri for a facility of 50 beds, while Jupiter Hospital, Sun Pharma Road will service a Covid care facility of 50 beds at a real estate project Velani Hub in the vicinity.

Gopinathji Hospital in Sama will have 49 beds at Hotel Aum Residency, while Siddhi ICU and Multispeciality Hospital has tied up with Hotel Sapphire Residency for 45 beds. Rhythm Heart Institute at Sama Savli Road will have a facility of 38 beds at Hotel Baroda Residency in Alkapuri, while Gotri’s Unity Hospital will expand to Hotel Fern Residency at Akota with 34 beds. Shukan Multi-Speciality Hospital in Karelibaug will add 30 beds at Hotel Telikos, while Tricolour Hospital and Sunshine Global Hospital will share Hotel Suba Elite in Fatehgunj area to provide Covid Care services of 20 and 10 beds, respectively.

The VMC now has a total of 4,220 beds available for Covid-19 treatment. Of these, 1,200 are free beds in government-run hospitals and 600 free beds in private hospitals. A total of 660 beds are available in Segment I hospitals without ICU facilities, while 1,760 beds are available in Segment II Large Corporate Level Infrastructure with ICU facilities.

The government hospitals providing free treatment are SSG Hospital (500 beds), GMERS Hospital Gotri (500 beds), Divisional Railway Hospital at Pratapnagar (100 beds), ESIC Hospital (50) and Infectious Disease Hospital in Karelibaug (50). The VMC has a total of 43 empanelled Segment II hospitals – Large Corporate Level Infrastructure with ICU Facilities and 30 Segment I – Healthcare facilities without ICU facilities.

The challenge for Vadodara lies in the fact that as many as seven districts of Central Gujarat are also referring patients to Vadodara for Covid-19 treatment.

Officer on Special Duty to Vadodara, Vinod Rao, who is also overseeing the availability of facilities in Covid-19 hospitals across Central Gujarat, said, “Despite having more than 450 patients from outside Vadodara district, we do not have any shortage of ICU, ventilators, oxygen or beds. Our advance planning is helping the city overcome the needs of our patients without any serious issues.”

Rao said that the increased capacity from August 1 was in preparation for the crucial peak approaching.

“As we enter the crucial phase of our fight against Covid-19, we issued a notification to increase the capacity of beds for Covid treatment to 4,220. To meet the increasing needs of patients coming from within and outside our district, we have also permitted hospitals to open extension services beyond their existing hospital premises. There will also be a proportionate increase in ventilator and ICU beds,” he added.

Rao also visited the SSG and Gotri hospitals to review the situation. An extended facility of 250 beds has been created on the fifth and sixth floors of the Gotri medical college, of which, 125 beds were put to use from Friday, while the other half will be open from Saturday. The dome structure of the hospital will house a 100-bed full-fledged ICU. “Of the 186 Covid-19 positive patients admitted in Gotri hospital, 46 are in ICU. Staff requirement for nursing and other work is also being sorted out,” Rao said.

The four zonal deputy commissioners of the VMC also presented their micro-planning for door to door surveillance starting from August 4, in which the ward office teams will provide supportive supervision and cross-verification of the screening project. “Home-based Covid Care and follow up of symptomatic persons will also be intensified from August 1,” Rao said.

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