Late referrals of the critically ill put govt. hospitals in a fix

A critically-ill affected person identified with COVID-19, who was present process remedy at a non-public hospital, was shifted to a authorities hospital at about 11 p.m. He died three hours later. Similarly, an octogenarian, referred from a non-public facility to a authorities hospital, was declared useless on arrival.

Such incidents have turn into frequent in Chennai’s authorities hospitals. Last-minute referrals of critically-ill COVID-19 sufferers from non-public hospitals are usually not solely placing authorities hospitals in a fix however are additionally inflicting psychological agony to households of the victims, say senior docs.

Every day, the main authorities hospitals in Chennai obtain a quantity of critically-ill COVID-19 sufferers, even in intubated states, from non-public hospitals. Most of them are late referrals.

“A majority of such patients are flown in ambulances late in the evening. Most emergency calls that we get after 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. are of such patients. We receive at least 10-15 such cases a day. Almost all of them are last-minute referrals and about 90% of them die in six to eight hours or a maximum of a day. They are shifted in very critical conditions, including in intubated states. They are shifted to government hospitals after seven to eight days of treatment in private facilities,” a physician at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital stated on the situation of anonymity.

Recently, the hospital obtained eight very critically-ill sufferers, all late referrals, from non-public hospitals on a single day, he famous.

A health care provider at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital stated they obtained a affected person who was referred from a non-public hospital. He died 5 minutes after arrival. When the hospital added about 50 beds to its ICU throughout the peak, 40 of them had been occupied by the night as there have been many such referrals, he stated.

While the deaths of sufferers referred in the eleventh hour are accounted for by the respective authorities hospitals, docs say it causes a lot of misery to households of the deceased.

“From top hospitals to nursing homes, many institutions resort to last-minute referrals. Private hospitals should avoid such referrals of critically-ill patients to at least save the families from mental agony. The families are traumatised and such practices can be avoided in the best interest of the patients,” he stated.

A Health Department official stated, “A family may shift a patient to a government hospital after being unable to meet the financial requirements or to put up a good fight to save their life. So we cannot say no to referrals. But we have already made it clear to private hospitals that referrals should be proper. Patients should be referred with complete treatment history, at a mutually convenient time. Private hospitals should also make sure that the patient’s condition will not worsen during the transit.”