Challenges in the delivery of critical care in India during the COVID-19 pandemic

Bharath Kumar Tirupakuzhi Vijayaraghavan^{1

2

3}, Sheila Nainan Myatra⁴, Meghena Mathew¹, Nirmalyo Lodh⁴, Jigeeshu Vasishtha Divatia⁴, Naomi Hammond^{5

6}, Vivekanand Jha^{3

7

8}, Balasubramanian Venkatesh^{5

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India.
² Asia Pacific Sepsis Alliance, Newton, New South Wales, Australia.
³ The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, India.
⁴ Department of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain, Tata Memorial Hospital, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India.
⁵ Division of Critical Care, The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Malcom Fisher Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK.
⁸ Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
⁹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
¹⁰ Wesley Hospital, Auchenflower, Brisbane, Australia.

PMID: 35154373
PMCID: PMC8829772
DOI: 10.1177/1751143720952590

Challenges in the delivery of critical care in India during the COVID-19 pandemic

Bharath Kumar Tirupakuzhi Vijayaraghavan et al. J Intensive Care Soc. 2021 Nov.

. 2021 Nov;22(4):342-348.

doi: 10.1177/1751143720952590. Epub 2020 Aug 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India.
² Asia Pacific Sepsis Alliance, Newton, New South Wales, Australia.
³ The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, India.
⁴ Department of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain, Tata Memorial Hospital, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India.
⁵ Division of Critical Care, The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Malcom Fisher Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK.
⁸ Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
⁹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
¹⁰ Wesley Hospital, Auchenflower, Brisbane, Australia.

PMID: 35154373
PMCID: PMC8829772
DOI: 10.1177/1751143720952590

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 cases in India continue to increase and are expected to peak over the next few weeks. Based on some projection models, India is expected to have more than 10 million cases by September 2020. The spectrum of disease can vary from mild upper respiratory tract symptoms to life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi-organ failure requiring intensive care. Even if less than 5% of patients require critical care services, this will still rapidly overwhelm the healthcare system in a country, where intensive care services and resources are scarce and unevenly distributed. In this perspective article, we highlight the critical care preparedness of India for the pandemic and the associated challenges.

Keywords: COVID-19; India; critical care.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interest: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: BKTV is Site Investigator for the SOLIDARITY trial. JVD reports personal fees paid to his institute from Edwards India, outside the submitted work.