Jamshedpur : Tata hospital adds two drugs to treat Covid patients

JAMSHEDPUR: Tata Main Hospital (TMH) has added special medicines Ivermectin and Doxycycline to its Covid treatment protocol, said officials of the hospital.

TMH general manager Ranjan Chaudhry said, “While Remdesivir and Favipiravir is already in use, we have added Ivermectin and Doxycycline to the treatment protocol.”

“Considering limited treatment modalities available for corona-infected patients, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and Indian Council for Medical Research approved off-label use of some special medicines,” Chaudhry said.

He added, “Tocilizumab, which is a costly drug, will be added to the treatment protocol soon after the consignment arrives.”

Notably, TMH has 1,087 beds of which 661 are for positive patients, 112 for routine isolation beds, 18 ICU isolation beds and 36 ICU Covid beds. The hospital is equipped with 83 ventilators for critical patients.

At TMH, a total of 350 doctors and 2,000 paramedical staff are looking after Covid patients, officials said. In response to a query pertaining to Covid-related mortalities at the hospital, Chaudhry said it will be unfair to say that the deaths are purely due to the virus.

“Several deaths of Covid patients are due to the critical condition of the other diseases such as lung cancer, some kidney ailment or cardiac complications,” he said.

He also noted that TMH is the only Covid hospital in the state where close to 70 critical patients are under treatment at one place. Incidentally, 90 Covid patients have died at the hospital in the last 40 days.

Noting that TMH receives Covid patients from the three districts of Kolhan division besides nearby districts like Dhanbad and Ramgarh, the GM said the hospital is providing support to Tinplate Hospital and Jamshedpur Eye for Covid management.