By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: In a laudable effort, City-based St. John’s Medical College Hospital has decided to set up a dedicated 200-bed facility for the treatment of patients with COVID-19, in addition to the existing dedicated 30-bed isolation ward with 15-bed ICU which can be extended to 30.
In order to appeal to a wider audience, the hospital has taken the crowdfunding route by collaborating with Milaap, South Asia’s largest crowdfunding platform, for setting up the infrastructure to treat COVID-19 patients. To donate, one can visit Milaap’s St. John’s Hospital page and follow the simple process mentioned there.
With COVID-19 cases rising each passing day, India has reported over 4,281 Covid-19 cases, and more than 704 new cases since Monday. The total death toll now in India stands at 111.
St John’s Medical College Hospital management had met with Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, along with BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar and Mayor M Goutham Kumar last week and informed the state government that it has set aside a special 200-bed unit to be used as a quarantine facility, if need be.
Dr Paul Parathazham, director of the hospital, said that all staffers have been trained to handle patients during the pandemic.
Speaking to Indian Catholic Matters, Dr Bobby Joseph, MD DNB, Vice Dean – Community Outreach and Distance Education and Professor of Community Health at the hospital, said, “St. John’s has committed to the Government of Karnataka to set up a 200-bed isolation facility. We already have a 60-bed ICU which is always full. We have also set up a 15-bed ICU with ventilators and monitors, 4 of which have dialysis facilities, for patients who are tested positive. We intend to ramp up this facility to 30 beds and are looking for funds for the same. The entire St. John’s Medical College Hospital family is ready to stand and fight; please fight with us.”
“We, at St. John’s Medical College Hospital, need your help to fight this crisis now, by ensuring that every sufferer gets the treatment they need, whether or not they have the finances for it,” he urged.
As of now, at St John’s Hospital, 30 patients have passed through isolation ward for COVID-19 patients and five have been admitted and one has recovered and no mortality so far.
St. John’s Medical College has been at the forefront of providing services to the medically underserved – – whether by training medical students who spend a significant period of their early careers working in rural areas or by being the first to volunteer services in disaster-hit regions around the country.
Since the 1970s to date, St. John’s has sent teams to every single disaster-hit zone in the country – starting with the post-war Bengal refugee crisis to the super cyclone-hit Odisha districts in 1999 to the flood-relief services in Kerala and Kodagu in recent years.
“St. John’s is committed to ensuring that no patient is turned away for a lack of finances and to ensure this we will surely need the support of gracious donors such as you or your organization. St. John’s has already set up a screening clinic, a dedicated isolation facility and a dedicated 15 bed COVID ICU,” Dr Joseph said.
As a standard practice, separate arrangements have been made to screen, isolate and treat patients, and those suspected to be carrying the novel coronavirus. Among the various arrangements made is a segregated acute respiratory clinic, a segregated severe SARI emergency ward for advanced airway management, a segregated cohort isolation ward for 20 COVID-19 suspects with mild to moderate symptoms that will be extended up to 40, a segregated cohort isolation ward for 20 COVID-19 patients, extendable up to 40, among others.
Some of the costs of treating patients suffering from this dreaded disease are as follows:
• Daily treatment in the general ward bed in isolation for non-serious patients – INR 4000/day
• Daily treatment in ICU beds – INR 18,000/day
• Setting up ICU bed with ventilator, monitor and dialysis support – INR 26,00,000/bed
On Milaap’s St John’s Hospital Page, you can donate as much as you can.