Dr. Jeodoss A leads Broadwell Christian Hospital in India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh (population 199 million).
“Our district’s population is close to 3 million, and we have recorded about 100 COVID-19 cases.
Last week, we admitted an asymptomatic woman in labor, and her delivery was uncomplicated. Fifteen minutes after delivery, she developed breathlessness, a bad cough, and her oxygen saturation dropped to 75 percent. We put her on a CPAP machine, and she stabilized within an hour.
Following protocol, we referred her to the district hospital less than a mile away. They refused her admission and sent her back to us. The district’s Chief Medical Officer said we should admit her and have her tested, but we asked that they take responsibility for the testing due to costs. He wanted our technician to go get the sampling kit from the government hospital, but our tech was bounced around from office to office and then sent back empty handed.
The next day we received a testing kit. We took the sample and sent it back. To our surprise, the officer offered to test 10 of our staff, so we collected samples and sent them in. We are still waiting for the results. Nothing is simple here.
We have been selected as a Level 2 COVID-19 facility, which means we should have 75 beds, 12 anesthesiologists, 6 physicians, and at least 10 ventilators. This kind of set up is only found in medical colleges, and we do not have one in our district. In reality, we have 5 ventilators in our district of 3 million and 2 to 4 anesthesiologists. The officials are hoping not to have to deal with COVID-19 cases, but simply send them to medical colleges in neighboring districts. But what about when they get overwhelmed? We fear that they will come to us at the last minute and expect more than we can provide.
Please pray for these government officials to see the need to work together and communicate openly. Pray for understanding on what our hospital is capable of, and for the district to also provide manpower and supplies when needed.”
~ Dr. Jeodoss A, Managing Director and Senior Administrative Officer
Emmanuel Hospital Association Canada 