COVID situation in Delhi under control, says Kejriwal as govt readies more beds across private hospitals

The chief minister also said that the government is pushing to add 2,000 more beds across private hospitals as 75% of the beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients have already been occupied. He said that 509 out of 667 beds across private hospitals have been occupied so far.

The coronavirus situation in the national capital is under control and there is no reason to worry, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday.

While addressing citizens via video-conferencing, the Aam Aadmi Party chief said: “The situation is under control and there is no reason to worry. The cases were expected to rise with the relaxations in the lockdown. We need to worry if the recovery rate is going down and more people are succumbing to the disease.”

He added: “In Delhi, the number of active cases is equal to the number of people who have recovered. Secondly, we need to look at the health infrastructure and monitor the rise in the number of severe cases.”

The chief minister also said that the government is pushing to add 2,000 more beds across private hospitals as 75% of the beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients have already been occupied. He said that 509 out of 667 beds across private hospitals have been occupied so far.

“On Sunday, we issued an order asking 117 nursing homes/private hospitals to reserve 20% of their beds for Covid-19 patients. At present, we have 4,500 beds in private and government hospitals and around 2,500 are still available for the infected,” he said.

The order issued by Directorate General of Health Services Dr Nutan Mundeja on Sunday directed nursing homes with a bed capacity of 50 beds or more to reserve 20% beds of the existing strength for infected patients. The department also suggested that the medical facility may bring about an increase of 25% in the number of beds allocated for non-COVID patients, depending upon the patient’s need and space availability.

Most of these beds, however, are available in government hospitals, Kejriwal said.

As per data collated by the state government, the occupancy rate in private hospitals is higher than that in government hospitals. There are 3,829 beds in six government hospitals, out of which 1,478 are occupied.

Till Monday afternoon, the city reported 13,418 COVID and 261 deaths. There are 6,617 active cases and 6,540 people have recovered so far.

“Of the total 3,829 beds in government hospitals, 3,164 have oxygen support. We are focusing more on the oxygen beds as the severe patients are facing respiratory trouble and it is important to maintain the oxygen levels in their body. We have 250 ventilators in the government hospitals and only 11 are used as of now. There are 72 ventilators in the private hospitals and 15 are occupied,” the chief minister said.

The Delhi government is also gearing up GTB hospital to treat COVID patients. Kejriwal informed that 1,500 beds with oxygen support are being readied at the hospital to deal with the rising cases of the virus. With the addition, the city will have 5,500 beds out of which 2,000 beds will be converted into beds with oxygen support.

Besides this, the chief minister also warned hospitals against serious action if they turned away any COVID patient.

While referring to a case in which a hospital had turned away a patient who was having respiratory problems, Kejriwal said: “The hospital did not even arrange an ambulance for the patient who tested positive. The patient was left on his own. We have issued a show-cause notice to the hospital. It is the responsibility of the hospital to provide ambulance and ensure that the patient is admitted to a COVID designated hospital.”

On May 17, when the relaxations for phase 4 of the lockdown were announced, there were 9,755 positive cases in the city and 1,750 were admitted in the hospital. A week later, while the total number of cases increased by 3,663, the number of people hospitalised has also marginally increased. Almost 1,100 others availed treatment under home isolation during this period.