The Bengal government shifted about 350 Covid-19 patients with mild or no symptoms from dedicated hospitals to safe homes across the state in the past 48 hours so that vacant beds could be allocated for serious patients.

“It (effort to shift asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms to safe homes from Covid hospitals) is gradually falling in place. About 350 patients have been shifted to safe homes so far,” health secretary N.S. Nigam said.

Sources said the development was considered significant as the health department was finding it difficult to shift patients with mild or no symptoms to the safe homes so that beds could be cleared for moderate and serious patients and the death toll could be brought down.

“It seems ice is now breaking because of the continuous effort by the government. So far, we were facing problems to shift such patients to safe homes because of stiff resistance from them. The patients were apprehending they wouldn’t get proper medical assistance if they were sent to safe homes,” said a health department official.

The asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms remained a headache for the health department as they were occupying about 80 per cent of the beds at dedicated Covid hospitals in Calcutta and its surrounding districts like South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas and Howrah.

The department had carried out a survey on July 17 and found that majority of the hospital beds were being occupied by patients whose condition was not serious.

Till July 16, there were 13,000-odd active coronavirus cases. Of them, 9,641 were asymptomatic and 1,876 patients were having mild symptoms. While 606 patients were in serious condition, 1,156 were designated as moderate.

“Interestingly, of the 5,442 patients admitted to government hospitals till July 16, more than 80 per cent were either asymptomatic or were having mild symptoms who did not require any major medical assistance. So, we had decided to shift a large number of them to the safe homes,” said an official.

The government had to take the decision as patients with severe symptoms were facing trouble to get a hospital bed in Calcutta and the surrounding areas.

A consumer protection group conducted a public hearing outside the CESC headquarters in Calcutta on Friday on alleged inflated bills. The hearing was held by the Citizens’ Forum Against Power Tariff Hike and the participants included economist Prasenjit Bose. The forum submitted to CESC officials a memorandum demanding rectification of the bills for June, installation of subsidised smart meters and revision of existing tariff slabs with the first 200 units being made free for domestic consumers through government subsidy. The BJP and the Left Front also organised protest programmes on Friday. Telegraph picture

“On paper, about 11,000 hospital beds are available for Covid patients in the state and around 40 per cent of them are occupied till Thursday. But the picture in Calcutta is different as more than 80 per cent of the beds in the city were already occupied. So, families of serious patients are finding it tough to admit the patient right away. The delay was killing the golden time for treatment and as a result, the death rate in Calcutta remained very high,” said a source.

Once decided, the state government started to install required infrastructure at the safe homes so that the patients could be shifted there.

The safe homes were tagged with a dedicated Covid hospital and provided with a team of doctors exclusively to treat the disease. Oxygen supplies were ensured and other facilities, including arrangement of food, were also made at the safe homes.

“But the first effort to shift asymptomatic patients to safe homes had hit a roadblock after more than 40 patients refused to move out of MR Bangur Hospital about a week ago. Since then, we had been trying to earn the trust of the patients. Finally, it appears things are moving,” said a senior health department official.

So far, the state government could arrange about 1,500 beds at safe homes set up at places like Haj House, South City Business Park, Gitanjali stadium and CNCI in Calcutta.

“A few more places like the Kishore Bharati stadium are being developed as safe homes. Once these come up, the city would have more than 2,500 beds at safe homes. Furthermore, the CMC is trying to find places where safe homes could be set up,” said an official.