Kolkata: The state health department has asked all hospitals – govt as well as private – to display the number of ICU beds available at the facility based on its category or level.This direction comes in the context of the Supreme Court order making it mandatory for all hospitals to arrange for ‘standardise display system,’ indicating the level of ICU available.According to the health department order, all hospitals have to classify the ICU beds into four levels, starting from 1 to 3. Level 1 can be classified further into two sub-categories, depending on the ventilation facility: one will have ventilator and the other won’t have it. Level 2 and 3 will have the usual ICU facilities with beds.The display will be installed at strategic locations within the hospital premises.“All the hospitals have been asked to start the level determination and analysis activities at the earliest. During the determination, they have to comply strictly with features for level 1 ICU beds as these beds are meant for critical patients,” said a state health official. An administrator at IPGMER-SSKM Hospital, the biggest and busiest govt hospital in the state, said they had started categorising the ICU beds so that level 1 conforms to the classification. “We are trying our best to finish our analysis so that we can go ahead with the display,” said a source at IPGMER-SSKM.Sources in the health department said the specification for level 1 ICU beds include the space, life-saving and monitoring gadgets and the ratio between nurse and patient along with round-the clock doctor availability. “While we already have our assessment of the type of ICU beds along with the equipment attached, we will be reviewing it again. We will implement the display within a month,” said Subhashis Datta, general manager operations at Ruby General Hospital. Sources said the level 1 ICU bed classification is clear at both govt as well as pvt hospitals. But for the categorisation of beds under level 2 and level 3, more discussion would be required.“This is good initiative for patient right as well as safety. We will be assessing the level of ICU beds in our hospital and start displaying those at the earliest. We have started our discussion on this,” said Rupak Barua, MD & CEO Woodlands Hospital.Sources said some private hospitals, particularly, the smaller nursing homes claim to have ICU beds. But in many cases, they do not have the requisite equipment like ventilator. “We will be requesting all our members to implement this mandate for transparency as well as patient safety and right,” said physician Rajib Pandey, who is also the secretary of Association of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes.The big hospitals in the city (both private and govt hospitals) have between 80 and 150 ICU beds per facility.
