61 private hospitals in Delhi reserve 20% beds for COVID-19

While the number of coronavirus cases is increasing in the national capital, it is difficult to treat all COVID-19 patients in government hospitals.

In this context, some private hospitals agreed to treat them and reserve a few beds for them.

The Delhi government said that more than 61 private hospitals agreed to reserve 20 per cent beds for COVID-19 patients.

While addressing the media through a virtual press conference, the Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that private hospitals have been ordered to reserve 20 per cent beds to treat COVID-19.

He urged people to remain at home and isolate themselves if they are infected by coronavirus but remain symptomatic.

It is a burden on the government to treat all of them at hospitals. Hence, asymptomatic people can stay at home and isolate themselves. This helps the government to treat people who are suffering from severe symptoms.

He alleged that RML Hospital doesn’t give test reports on time. He also said that delay in test reports lead to several serious problems.

He added that 70 per cent of people are dying within a day of reaching the hospital while their reports are coming after 5-7 days. Hence, he demanded reports within 24 hours to avoid further serious consequences.

He also said that false positives are another problem to be solved. He showed an instance saying that recently, the RML Hospital tested 94 per cent samples as positive in a day, but later, 45 per cent of them are found to be negative on retesting. It is a worrisome issue which should be fixed immediately.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also addressed the media saying that the focus of the Delhi government is mainly on saving the lives of people.

The Delhi government is trying to provide adequate healthcare facilities for those patients who need hospital assistance.

He said that the national capital has some dedicated COVID-19 facilities. Besides, a few private hospitals also joined. But they have some logistic issues. Once solved, they will be fully converted to dedicated COVID-19 facilities.

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