Govt plans to ramp up city’s Covid beds over three weeks
AS CASES RISE 5 govt hospitals have 4.5k beds to treat patients, which will be upped by 9,000 beds
nNEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Thursday finalised a plan according to which five government hospitals, dedicated to Covid-19 treatment in the city, will increase their cumulative bed capacity by 9,000 to 13,870, including 750 beds with ventilator support, in three phases over the next three weeks, officials said.
Currently, these five hospitals together have around 4,500 beds and 300 ventilators to treat those infected with the SARS-COV 2 virus.
The augmentation plan – drafted after the city touched 1,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day on May 28 – requires the five hospitals to have 4,470 beds in the first phase (by June 11, which has already been met), 4,650 more in the second (by June 18) and another 4,750 in the third phase (by June 25), according to government documents that HT has seen.
The five government hospitals are Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (2,170 beds), GTB Hospital (4,500 beds), Lok Nayak Hospital (6,000 beds), Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital (600 beds) and Satyavati Raja Harish Chandra Hospital (600 beds).
Senior government officials said the five hospitals (with added space capacity) collectively will have to have 110 beds with ventilator support in the first phase, 270 ventilator-supported beds in the second and 370 such beds in the third.
Of the 13,120 remaining beds (excluding those with ventilator support) under the augmentation plan, 9,880 beds must have oxygen facility of different capacities and 3,240 beds must be kept available for recovering patients whose health may need to be observed for a few days, the documents said.
Between May 28 and June 4, Delhi recorded an average of 1,219 cases a day, the government records showed. The government is expecting a further spike in these numbers as Delhi’s economic activities and public spaces have opened up in a phased manner.
On Friday, Delhi recorded 1,330 Covid-19 cases, taking the total to 26,334. The death toll went up to 708. Of the 15,311 active Covid-19 cases as on Friday, 10,255 are in home isolation.
In another order issued earlier this week, the government directed all private hospitals with more than 50 beds to dedicate 20% of the total beds to Covid-19 patients.
With this, the government hopes to add another 2,643 beds for Covid treatment at 42 private hospitals, another set of government documents showed.
The order is applicable to 117 hospitals and nursing homes in the city built on land procured from the government at subsidised rates. But apart from the 42, the rest are yet to give estimates to the government, a senior official said.
On Thursday, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had said hospitals that fail to earmark 20% of their beds for Covid-19 treatment will have to offer up the entire hospital to combat the pandemic. The government has also allowed such hospitals to increase their total bed capacity by 25%.
Currently, the city has 10 Covid-dedicated hospitals, which collectively provides around 4,000 beds and 130 ventilators.
The hospitals are Max Super Speciality Hospital, Apollo Hospitsal, Sir Ganga Ram Kolmet Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital, Mahadurga Charitable Trust Hospital, Batra Hospital, Fortis Shalimar Bagh, Venkateshwara Hospital, Moolchand Hospital and Saroj Super Speciality Hospital.
Apart from these, the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Chhatrasal Stadium, Siri Fort Sports Complex, Saket Sports complex, more than 20 hotels and banquet halls have been identified by the revenue department as facilities that can be converted into Covid-19 hospitals or quarantine facilities, should the need arises, the senior official said.
LOK NAYAK
DEEP CHAND BANDHU HOSPITAL