Outside GTB Hospital, the second largest Delhi government hospital, it’s an open-air ICU now with COVID-19 infected patients seen lying in the hospital courtyard.
Many patients and their relatives were seen camping in the open outside the dedicated COVID-19 hospital with no doctors or hospital staff around.
At the hospital’s gate, security guards were seen pleading that the emergency unit was understaffed and stretched to breaking point.
According to India Today, most of these patients did not have oxygen support as they patiently waited for their turn to get a bed and oxygen support.
“I have helplessly seen two patients dying here outside emergency in just 1 hour. Oxygen points are not available for all. Patients are gasping and Kins are pleading. Doctors trying their best with very limited resources,” Hemant Rajaura, a health reporter with Hindustan newspaper tweeted.
The GTB Hospital has 400 ICU beds and all of them are occupied. The dedicated COVID treatment facility has experienced a heavy inflow of patients, as the country sees a massive surge in COVID positive cases.
GTB was among the hospitals that sounded an alarm over depleting oxygen stocks in Delhi. The hospital did get some supply, but it was not enough to meet the demand.
There is a constant queue outside the already crowded emergency ward.
Inside the hospital, stretchers doubled up as beds as the hospital struggles to cope with rising COVID-19 cases in the national capital.
