Mangaluru: Wenlock District Hospital’s ambitious plan to add 50 more ICU beds has hit a roadblock due to the shortage of trained nursing staff. While adding beds and ventilators may not be difficult, hospital authorities say finding enough nurses to provide round-the-clock critical care remains the bigger challenge.The hospital recently sought govt approval to increase its ICU bed strength from 116 to 166. Despite having the highest number of ICU beds among district hospitals in the state, Wenlock frequently struggles to accommodate the steady influx of critically ill patients.The patient load extends far beyond Dakshina Kannada. Between April 2025 and March 2026, the hospital recorded 27,937 inpatient admissions, of which only 12,147 were from Dakshina Kannada.Wenlock District Hospital superintendent Dr Shivaprakash DS said the hospital urgently needs more ICU and ventilator beds as a large number of patients arrive from other districts. People’s representatives, too, have urged the govt to augment critical care facilities. “Increasing the number of ICU and ventilator beds is not difficult. However, the strength of nursing staff has to be increased proportionately to ensure quality treatment,” he said.Dr Shivaprakash said that ideally one trained nurse should be deployed for every ventilator bed, while one nurse can monitor two ICU patients. One nurse may be assigned to four post-operative patients, while the nurse-patient ratio in general wards should not fall below one nurse for every six patients. Though Wenlock hospital has its own nursing institute, retaining qualified nurses remains a challenge. Many nurses leave even after being appointed at the hospital, he said.Under a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement, KMC Hospital has provided 150 nursing officers, while Wenlock has nearly 138 nurses of its own. “Many nurses quit when they receive lucrative job offers from foreign countries,” Dr Shivaprakash said.The demand for additional critical care beds and recruitment of more nursing staff will be discussed with health and family welfare minister UT Khader, he added.
