Nagpur distt witnesses drastic fall in COVID-19 testing; 54 die
   Date :31-Mar-2021

COVID 19 testing_1 &
 
 
Principal Correspondent :
 
The post-Holi day brought drastic fall in COVID-19 testing count. Number of testing suddenly came down to 4,604, less by 7,000 than the number registered on Monday. Surprisingly, the testing count was more on festival of colours which nobody had expected. Testing count is less but the number of deaths due to this dreaded virus has continued to haunt as 54 persons died of coronavirus. Some good news too is there as the single day COVID-19 cases witnessed a major dip, recovery rate too has improved while active cases have come down. COVID-19 death count in the district continues to trouble the frontline health workers and administration.
 
On Tuesday, 54 people died of COVID-19 (Three persons were the residents of the places outside Nagpur district). Nagpur rural has witnessed 20 deaths while 31 died of the virus in city. This has taken the cumulative deaths to 5,040 of which 850 were the residents of the places outside Nagpur district. The testing count in district on Tuesday has witnessed drastic reduction by 79,000. The total testing count stood at 4,604. Nagpur rural reported 1,967 testing while city has registered 2,637 testing taking the cumulative testing number to 16,06,299. Today 1,156 tested positive for coronavirus in district of which three cases are from outside Nagpur district. Most people attributed the reduction in single day cases to the less number of testing on Tuesday which is 2,712 only.
 
Technically, the cases came positive are the outcomes of the testing that was held on Monday which stood at 12,089. With Nagpur rural reported 458 new COVID 19 cases and 694 coming positive for this virus in city the cumulative cases reached 2,23,153 (1,032 cases are from the places outside Nagpur district). The recovery for the first time in last one month has improved though by a bit. It has an impact on active cases also as those have been reduced. With 1,191 persons becoming corona-free the cumulative recovery reached 1,79,904. The active cases are reduced to 38,209. This has resulted in increase in recovery rate to 80.62%. The samples examined through RT PCR were 2,477 while 235 were through Rapid Antigen Test. Apart from the samples of Nagpur district, the people from Nagpur and out of city approached various laboratories in Nagpur to get themselves examined. The samples came for examination at various laboratories in Nagpur include virology laboratory of Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) (949), Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) (179), molecular diagnostic laboratory of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) (0), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) (0), Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) (0) private laboratories (1,349), Antigen (235).
 
More beds, manpower needed Unavailability of beds in hospitals in Nagpur has become a major issue. Authorities are trying their best but a solution is still not in sight. One can understand the importance of the issue as about four days ago the Nagpur Division bench of Bombay High Cout announced the verdict of granting approval to additional 90 beds in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) at 10.30 in the night. Within 10 minutes of the passage of order, all the beds got occupied. This shows the rising need of more beds in the hospital. Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope had been to Nagpur, three months ago.
 
During his visit, he had asked the administration to increase beds in Government hospitals. Everybody would agree that there is a need of more beds but nobody has given a thought of manpower to cater to the need of the patients occupying the beds, especially the Government-run ones. Hospitals have to admit the non-COVID serious patients too. Secondly, the complete staff is divided into two-- one is to treat COVID-19 patients and other is for handling non-COVID patients. No Government hospital at this juncture has staff in adequate capacity to handle the existing situation. Number of healthworkers on duty and number of beds is mismatching. The staff is is not able to manage the existing beds, how would it handle the additional beds. In most cases, the senior doctor can’t look after each and every individual patient and he or she assigns the work to the Residents.
 
This is creating several problems in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. According to some experts, the unequal number of beds and the manpower is the reason behind the rise in deaths due to this dreaded virus. Patients are admitted but the staff in hospitals is not able to pay attention to every patient personally. Government and administration while taking a call on increasing beds should think of the staff needed for those many beds.