COVID-19 deaths at LNJP reduce by half in last fortnight

New Delhi, Jun 28 () The number of deaths at the Lok Nayak Hospital, the largest COVID-19 dedicated hospital here, has decreased by around 50 percent in the last two weeks, officials said on Sunday.

"The number of deaths in the hospital has decreased from 100 in the week from June 6 to June 12 to 51 in the week between June 20 to June 26," an official said.

The reduction is due to the improvement in facilities, streamlining of processes at the LNJP and the significant increase in the number of beds and ICUs in other hospitals in Delhi, he said.

Of the 5,777 coronavirus positive patients admitted to LNJP since March 17, when the government declared it a COVID-19 dedicated hospital, 4,169 patients have recovered fully, the official said.

The number of ICU beds in the LNJP has been increased from 64 to 100. This also helped in saving the lives because patients with extreme comorbidities are transferred to ICUs as soon as their condition worsens, he said.

The official said a hundred more beds will be added to the ICUs.

There are 80 ventilators in the hospital, of which 21 are vacant, he said.

The bed capacity in the casualty ward of the hospital has been increased from 25 to 40, which means that if there is an inflow of patients in bulk, they can be treated as soon as possible and to ensure there are no deaths, the official said.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also launched a video call facility for coronavirus patients admitted to the hospital to talk to their loved ones.

"We have installed tablets in coronavirus wards and at a counter outside. These can be used by patients and their relatives for video calling," Kejriwal had said. GVS AQS AQS