kolkata occupancy at private hospitals has started rising after a lull induced by the panachayat polls and the inclement weather most hospitals that had seen occupancy drop by 2530 on an average and outpatient department opd footfalls reduced by 2050 have seen a sharp turnaround this week with patient patients returning for planned surgeries and consultancies that had been put on hold amri hospitals have seen occupancy shoot up to 80 this week across its three units which is higher than its average occupancy of 75 the hospital had seen a 15 occupancy drop since endjune we have seen a sudden surge in last three days that has taken occupancy higher than normal average this is due to the pending surgeries and rise in admissions into the medicine wards that seem to have been put on hold due to the panchayat polls we have also seen a rise in the number of local patients though our opd footfalls were not affected said amri ceo rupak baruaat peerless hospital both opd footfalls and admissions have picked up after a lull from midjune till the first week of july due to the elections and the intense heat according to ceo sudipta mitra he added that a bulk of patients from fringe areas had stopped visiting due to panchayat polls the inclement weather too prevented many especially the elderly from travelling to hospitals for opd consultations we have seen a sharp rise in planned surgeries and chemotherapy said mitramedica superspecialty hospital has seen occupancy surge from 60 last month to 75 this week opd footfall has risen 25 over the last fortnight it means better utilization of hospital beds this year temperatures were unusually high and then we had the panchayat polls last week that kept a section of patients away said ayanabh debgupta cofounder and joint md of medica hospitalshe added that surgeries have driven the number of admissions up this week introduction of robotic surgery in gi uro uro oncology gynecology and orthopaedics have helped revive the occupancy added deb guptamanipal hospital salt lake too has seen a rise in the number of opd patients opd footfalls have risen by 10 while occupancy has increased 5 said director arindam banerjeeat rn tagore international institute of cardiac sciences opd footfalls had dropped by over 10 since the last week of june we have seen a recovery since wednesday said narayana hospitals zonal head r venkateshafter a drop in admissions a fortnight ago occupancy has increased by 10 at ils hospital but the patient count is yet to reach the normal mark said senior vicepresident debashish dhar