Mumbai: 500-bed St George’s Hospital lies empty for six Covid-19 patients

An empty corridor at St George’s Hospital

The state-run St George's Hospital, which used to cater to thousands of patients every day before the pandemic, is now lying vacant as it is yet to be converted into a non-COVID hospital. The hospital which has 467 beds currently has only 6 active patients. DMER said the hospital can start OPD services from May 1 and an order to this effect will be issued soon.

Since the third wave receded around two-and-a-half months ago, almost all dedicated COVID hospitals in the city were to turn back to non-COVID hospitals in a phase-wise manner and this includes civic-run BYL Nair and SevenHills hospitals too. But the Directorate of Medical Education and Research was yet to give the nod for the same for St George's Hospital.

An official from the hospital said, "We have sent a proposal to DMER to give us non-COVID status, but so far there has been no orders."
DMER Director Dilip Mhaiskar said, "We have received the proposal from the hospital for starting non-COVID services. From May 1, OPD services will resume. Soon, we will release the order for the same."

An official from the hospital on the condition of anonymity said, "The DMER converted the hospital into a dedicated one on March 23, 2020 as it was the need of the hour back then. But since the past two months, we are barely getting any cases and now have only 6 active patients."

The official added, "The hospital has obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedic, MD medicine, ophthalmology, ENT and many other departments. Earlier, around 1,000 patients would come to the outpatient department and 20 to 25 patients used to be admitted every day. We also used to conduct 10 to 15 surgeries a day, sometimes even more. The hospital is also equipped with CT scan and sonography machines, which even take the load for Sir JJ Hospital when their machines go for repair or maintenance."

The hospital is also well known for gender reassignment surgery, and a few patients are waiting for the services to start.

"We have 12 ICU beds too, so if anyone comes in an emergency at least these beds can help save patients' lives. But it is not possible due to the COVID tag. We can reserve some beds for COVID patients but utilise the rest for others," the official added.

A hospital staffer told mid-day, "We are getting only a few patients since the past 2 months. There is almost no work to do. Many patients come for other treatment, but we have to turn them away and ask them to go to JJ hospital instead."

23 March
Date in 2020 that St George's became COVID-dedicated