Need 150k hospital beds by end of July: Kejriwal
NEWDELHI: Delhi will need 150,000 beds by the end of July if its hospitals are to also treat coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients from other states, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday, even as he promised to implement “in letter and spirit” Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s order overruling the Delhi government’s decision to only allow Delhi residents to be treated in government and private hospitals in the state.
By July 15, Delhi will need 33,000 beds, and including those from outside the city, it will require 65,000, the chief minister added. “By July 31, 80,000 beds were projected for the people of Delhi. But now, we will need a total of 150,000 beds.”
His comments came against the backdrop of a sharp increase in the number of cases in Delhi. On Tuesday, the state added 1,366 news cases and on Wednesday, it added 1,501. Delhi’s dashboard on Wednesday night stood at 32,810 cases, with 12,245 recoveries, and 984 deaths.
Separately, Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain said there is community transmission in Delhi, repeating what he said on Tuesday, but added that only the Centre could declare this.
Referring to the Delhi data, Kejriwal termed the task of arranging over a 100,000 beds an “unprecedented and a huge challenge”. He asked neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to augment their health infrastructure to ensure that people from there do not have to come to Delhi for treatment.
Kejriwal emphasised that this was not the time to fight over differences and appealed to all political parties, religious institutions, doctors and the public to
CHIEF MINISTER ARVIND KEJRIWAL SAID HE WILL FOLLOW L-G’S ORDER ON ADMITTING PATIENTS FROM OUTSIDE “IN LETTER AND SPIRIT”
NEW DELHI: All major hospitals, clinics and nursing homes in Delhi will have to display the number of available beds, and room charges at their entry gates on a real-time basis from now on, the Lieutenant Governor’s office said on Wednesday.
In a directive issued to chief secretary Vijay Dev on Wednesday, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal also asked him to deploy officials to conduct random inspections across all hospitals to check malpractices such as overcharging or false refusal of beds. The L-G is the chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is its vicechairperson.
The order read, “In order to increase transparency and to facilitate the public, all major hospitals, clinics and nursing homes of Delhi should be directed to display on LED boards in large letters outside their establishments, at the entry point itself, the availability of beds (both Covid and nonCovid, wherever applicable), along with charges including for rooms/beds and details of the contact person for admission.”
Baijal also asked the Delhi health department to ensure the data displayed on the boards is reconciled with data on the Delhi Corona app and delhifightscorona.in web portal.
“Further, periodic surprise checks may also be conducted by the officers deputed by the DDMA to ensure that correct data is displayed by hospitals/ clinics/nursing homes concerned and no eligible/genuine patient is denied admission or is overcharged,” Baijal’s order further read. The L-G’s order will stand alongside a similar order issued by the state health department on Tuesday, in which the Delhi government had asked all hospitals with 50 beds or more to put up a 12x10-feet flexboard at the entry gate.