GUWAHATI: Covid-infected patients, who do not need hospitalization and are asymptomatic, are occupying a large chunk of the hospital beds in Assam. Unless the government quarantine facilities are revamped at the earliest, treatment of non-Covid patients may soon be hit.
The state government had closed down the quarantine facilities as the Covid situation had improved remarkably towards the end of 2020. The second wave has thrown up concerns about the occupancy of hospital beds by asymptomatic Covid patients, who don’t have adequate and safe home isolation facilities.
Executive director, Assam National Health Mission, Dr Manoj Choudhury, told TOI on Saturday that an estimated 60-70% of the admitted Covid cases at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital are asymptomatic. “Some cases may be mildly symptomatic but we have seen that a greater percentage of the hostilized Covid cases are asymptomatic this time,” he said.