Dashrath Rane, 70, who suffered from breathlessness, had a tough time getting admitted to BYL Nair Hospital at Mumbai Central on Wednesday. Reason: the hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) is not functioning properly as it is under renovation.
Ironically, Nair hospital is one of the three tertiary-care hospitals run by the civic body. Its MICU plays a major role when a patient is brought in with a serious condition. The state of the art equipment in an MICU help patients who are seriously injured, or have a critical or life-threatening illness, or have undergone a major surgical procedure and require 24-hour care and monitoring.
Parts of Nair hospital’s 22-bed MICU is under renovation for the past three days with only six beds functioning.
According to the hospital authority, at least ten more days will be needed to install the central monitoring system in the MICU.
Dr Rajesh Bharmal, dean of the hospital, said: “The last three days have gone only in preparing the place to install the central monitoring system. It’s for the benefit of the patients. We have requested JJ and Sion hospitals (the other two tertiary-care hospitals) for co-operation as far as MICU emergencies are concerned. At other times, we always try and accommodate the patients.”
Rane was eventually admitted in the cardiac department of the hospital where there is an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). “Searching for a ventilator for a serious patient in city like Mumbai a very tiring. My brother called several hospitals, but to no avail. Finally, we admitted him in the cardiac department,” said Rane’s son Dinesh.
A resident of Tardeo, Rane is not the only one who had to face such a situation. Normally, middle-class people cannot afford MICUs in private hospitals because they are unaffordable and all civic and state-run hospital MICUs are almost always occupied.
Talking about the central monitoring system, the dean said: “This installation work will be finished within ten days. Through this system, doctors can sit at one place and keep a watch on all the patients with the 17-inch multi-monitor display. A doctor can see all the parameters like multi waveforms (ECG, RESP, PLETH, CO2, IBP) and multi parameters (HR, ST, SPO2, PR, RR, TMPE, SBP, DBP, MAP, in CO2).
(Patient’s name changed to protect identity)
Tough time
Parts of B Y L Nair Hospital’s 22-bed Medical Intensive Care Unit is under renovation for the past three days. Currently, only six beds are functioning at the institution.
According to the hospital authority, at least ten more days will be needed to install the central monitoring system in the MICU.
