Hospitals in Kolkata to resume setting up of satellite units

KOLKATA: From this week, several private hospitals in the city intend to build satellite units to admit the COVID-19 patients who have moderate symptoms and don’t have enough space at home to isolate themselves.

The majority of the satellite units will have limited oxygen assistance, according to hospital officials. On Friday, December 31, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, urged that private hospitals open satellite units as quickly as possible in order to keep hospital beds available for critical patients. This week, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans to inaugurate a ‘safe home’ with the same amenities as a satellite unit. On Monday, the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences will inaugurate its satellite facility. “We’ll initiate with a ten-bed facility and we have also reserved a room on the first floor of a guest house near the hospital. We can scale up the satellite unit in a day if demand for beds increases,” said R. Venkatesh, Regional Director, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.

This week, Woodlands Multi Speciality Hospitals also plans to open a 30-bed satellite unit at Gariahat Road in Kolkata’s south-central district. During the second wave last year, the hospital launched two satellite units, and the owners of both properties have been contacted.