App data on beds, ground reality at odds: Residents
People with Covid-19 seeking medical assistance have reported being confused by available bed data released on a realtime, with many turning up at facilities that were meant to have vacancies as per a government mobile app -- Delhi Corona -- but were in reality full.
Around 3pm on Tuesday, the government’s Delhi application showed there were 1,515 Covid-19 beds and 56 intensive care unit (ICU) beds available.
But people reported none were available. HT reached out to eight of the 65 hospitals where beds were apparently vacant as per the Delhi Corona app. Requests for beds were turned down in all of these hospitals
Experts and officials said this is happening mostly since hospitals are too stretched and have been unable to update their vacancies and occupancy data.
Dr Vikas Maurya, director and head of department (pulmonology) at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh said, “At this crucial time, which hospital will want to turn down patients? The problem is there aren’t enough ICU beds, so we are having to keep critically ill patients, who need ICU care, in wards. So, as soon as a bed
NEW DELHI:
gets vacated in the ICU, a patient from our ward moves in”.
“This is happening because people get admitted to private hospitals expecting better treatment and care,” said Dr Maurya.
The Delhi government did not respond for comment.
Aditi Raj, a 27-year-old resident of south Delhi’s Saket, said she was looking for an oxygen bed for her sister on Monday after her oxygen saturation levels dipped to 82. She followed the information on the Delhi Corona app but was turned away from all hospitals where beds were reportedly vacant.
“I tried at least five hospitals.the app showed there are 20 vacant beds in one hospital. When we went there, the administration told us that they have not had a vacant bed in the last two days. Is this the ‘real-time’ information that the government is providing to people?
When families are already in the worst mental state, they are misleading us and wasting our time,” said Raj who finally admitted her sister to a private hospital in Greater Noida.
A senior official of the Delhi government said the oxygen shortage also led several hospitals, including Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB), Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality and Batra hospitals, to reduce their bed capacity, which might not have been updated on the portal by the hospital administrations.
“Amid the rising Covid cases, we are also facing a shortage of oxygen supply, which has thrown plans off gear. The responsibility of updating the status of beds in real-time is the job of the respective hospitals. Many hospitals are also refusing to admit critically ill patients because of this (oxygen) shortage,” said the official, asking not to be named.
According to a letter written by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, Delhi has total 21,138 Covid beds, of which 16,272 are normal beds and 4,866 are ICU beds. Not all, however, are hospital beds. This number includes beds in Covid Health Centres and Covid Care Centres.
EXPERTS AND OFFICIALS SAID THIS IS HAPPENING MOSTLY SINCE HOSPITALS ARE TOO STRETCHED TO BE ABLE TO UPDATE THE DATA