Hyderabad: Non-Local Patients' Treatment in Hospitals Creating Shortage of Medical Supplies 

Private hospitals in Telangana have put a premium on medical infrastructure and forced patients from the state to share the finite resources available here to share with other state patients coming to Hyderabad for treatment.

As per the estimates given by the Health Department, more than 45-50 per cent of ICU and oxygen beds in 15 to 20 major corporate hospitals in the city are occupied by patients from other states. As a result of this phenomenon, the patients in our state are left with fewer beds at super-speciality hospitals.

A rapid surge in positive cases starting from April when Covid second wave triggered, critically ill Covid patients from the borders of states such as Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have found Hyderabad, rich in medical infrastructure, a safe alternative to access quality healthcare services. This has created a strange situation for the state and for the health officials.

Health Department said that there have also been times when the government, in a span of 24 hours in April, allowed 31 air ambulances from across the country to land at Begumpet Airport and shift the patients to corporate hospitals here.

The State government is worried about the allocation as the Union Health Ministry allocates medical oxygen, vaccines based on the local patient count and it does not consider about the arrival of patients from other states who are receiving treatment in Hyderabad.

At present, Telangana is receiving 420 metric tonnes of oxygen from Union Health Ministry based on the daily number of Covid patients that are reported within the State. As a result, the oxygen supply in private and government hospitals in Telangana is just being maintained on a day-to-day basis with no buffer stock left for emergencies.