Green shoots of recovery visible as non-Covid work rises in hospitals

Private hospital occupancies inch back to 50% levels

With unlocking in phases and patients opting not to defer their health needs further, green shoots of recovery are visible in India’s private hospitals. According to leading hospital chains in the country, non-Covid occupancies are rising and hovering at 40-45 per cent.

If one adds Covid admissions to this, occupancies have breached 50 per cent in the past few weeks.

A leading hospital network in North India said Covid occupancies accounted for nearly 65 per cent of its admissions in April-May. 

Now they are at 30-35 per cent, the rest being non-Covid admissions for elective surgeries and emergency procedures.

The slight moderation in numbers in major cities like Mumbai seems to have played a part in bringing back confidence in patients to visit hospitals again.

Joy Chakraborty, chief operating officer, PD Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai, said people had come to terms with the pandemic. “From no patient in outpatient department (OPD), things have changed significantly. Non-Covid admissions have picked up gradually,” he said.

Of the 300 beds it is running now, PD Hinduja has 81 for Covid patients. While its Covid occupancies have ranged around 90 per cent, the overall occupancy is slowly going up. It has managed more than 150 patients at home through home isolation.

Global Hospital in Mumbai, for example, has seen its OPD visits grow five times against the lows in April. Elective surgeries, including transplants, have started picking up.

Dr Pradeep Rao, director, urology and renal transplant, Global Hospital, said: “We have done successful transplants during the Covid days and now we are observing an increase in elective surgeries.”

 

Industry insiders say patients outside Mumbai are coming to the city. But the good news is that daily new cases have reduced in Mumbai (in the range 700-1,300 in the past two weeks or so), and this has curbed the scramble for hospital beds.

Nair Hospital, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run hospital here, has opened up for non-Covid work.

Around nine peripheral hospitals on the outskirts have started non-Covid work now,” said the chief executive officer (CEO) of a hospital.

He added: “Large private hospitals in Mumbai have 90-95 per cent occupancies. They have come back to 55-60 per cent. While Covid continues to see higher occupancies, non-Covid hospitalisation has increased.” In the North, too, OPDs have picked up in and around Delhi. Dr Mradul Kaushik, senior director, operations and planning, Max Healthcare, said specialties like spine, cardiac, and renal surgeries had started showing signs of recovery. Even the joint replacement programme started about a week back. This is a highly elective surgery. Some hospitals like Fortis have started clinics for post-Covid check-ups. Richa Deb Gupta, senior vice-president, Fortis Healthcare, said green shoots were visible, but there was still some way to go. “In elective surgeries, we are at 30 per cent of January levels. In the past seven to 10 days, daily new cases have started coming down, which has given confidence to people,” she said.

At the network level, Deb Gupta said occupancies had dipped to 28-29 per cent in April. “Today non-Covid occupancies are at 40-45 per cent, and at group level occupancies are 52-53 per cent, of which 12-13 per cent are Covid occupancies. Usual occupancies at group level in pre-Covid times used to be 72-73 per cent,” she said. Are Covid beds in hospitals going empty? Not just yet.

Hospital administrators are saying Covid beds continue to remain occupied, but the waiting list has reduced in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Things are not looking as good in cities like Bengaluru or Kolkata, which are witnessing a surge in cases. “The spread (of Covid) is now happening in tier 2 cities. Our Raigarh hospital had higher occupancies earlier, but now when we screen elective surgery patients for Covid, many turn out to be positive,” Deb Gupta said.

Alok Roy, chair, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry health services committee, and chairman, Medica Group, which operates hospitals in Kolkata and other eastern states, said: “For the non-Covid business, it’s only 10 per cent of January levels.” He said West Bengal, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu were in the same boat, and there the cases had peaked later. 

Dilip Jose, CEO of Manipal Hospitals, said the situation was different in many cities. “Our Delhi and Jaipur hospitals have seen non-Covid work picking up. In Bengaluru and adjoining areas, the priority is Covid now and most elective surgeries, etc are put on hold,” Jose said. From 70 per cent overall occupancies in pre-Covid times, it now sees occupancies of 45 per cent or so. It had slipped to 30 per cent or so during the lockdown.

Once overseas travel eases, hospitals expect more revenues and footfalls. Manipal, for example, draws 10 per cent of its revenues from medical tourism. With Covid spreading to the hinterland, patients are less reluctant to travel to metros. Analysts, however,  do not expect 2020-21 to be a great year for hospitals.