Chandigarh: PGI Liver ICU patients shifted for AC filter work

CHANDIGARH: As the AC filters of liver ICU in the PGI are getting upgraded, all 10 patients have been shifted to various emergency wards and other ICUs of the hospital. Some of the patients, who were in the high dependency, unit have been shifted to the Nehru extension 250-bedded hospital. Also, within one-and-half months, new 7 beds in the liver ICU of the new 250-bedded hospital will be ready to serve the patients.
"We have shifted three ICU patients to the Emergency Ward, trauma ICU and the main ICU. The other stabilised patients in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) have been shifted to the new building," confirmed Dr R K Dhiman, head of the liver department.
The liver department had proposed installation of the high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters.
"It works by trapping bacteria as small as 0.3 microns in size. This is to guard the patients against infection. Our liver patients have highly compromised immunity," said Dr Dhiman. He said, "It will take a week or so to fit the ducts for these filters. Once this is done, we shall shift back our patients. At the moment, the senior residents, who were with these patients in the ICU, have also be shifted along with the patients," he said.
The new building has a cubicle where the HDU patients have been accommodated. But, the patients in the Emergency Ward are in discomfort. "My father is here with many serious patients, who keep crying in pain. This is very disturbing for him," said a relative of a patient in the Emergency Ward.
The bed strength of the liver ICU will be enhanced. With 5 beds already present and another 7 beds in the new building, there will be 12 ICU liver beds. Besides this, there will be 5 HDU beds. "The proposal for the HEPA filters was for the past 2 years. Now, the patients will be having less chances of catching infection," said Dr Dhiman.