500 beds down, Sewri TB hospital braces for rise in patients this monsoon

Asia's largest tuberculosis hospital in Sewri is staring at a rise in the number of patients that follows the onset of monsoon. And this while the facility is 500 beds down. An entire section of the hospital is undergoing renovation.

Only 750 beds are available across different wards at the moment.

"All the beds in my ward are full. I don't know what doctors in the outpatient department tell the sick while turning them away," said a nurse at the hospital's surgical department.

Hospital's medical superintendent Dr Jagdish Keni said, "The renovation work was supposed to be completed in June; now, the contractor is saying that it will go on till September."

"Most of the patients coming belong to the lower income group and many of them live on pavements. During monsoon, the number of patients seeking admission rises as they are unable to live in the open," he added.

With a rise in the number of patients having the Multiple Drug Resistant (MDR) strain of the bacterium, those living in close proximity with the non-infected could send the number of TB cases in the city surging.

About tuberculosis

TB is spread through the air. A single patient can infect 10 or more people in a year.
TB is one of the leading causes of mortality in India.
India reports more than 3 lakh TB deaths every year.
Tuberculosis requires at least six months of treatment.