Mixing patients may worsen Covid spread, warn private hospitals

NEW DELHI: Reserving beds for Covid-19 patients in hospitals treating people with other ailments might lead to a further spread of the infection, warned private hospitals and doctors, who are writing to the government to review its decision.

The Delhi government had on Sunday directed 117 hospitals – with 50 beds or more – to reserve 20% space for coronavirus patients, to deal with the surge in cases. This would have added around 2,000 beds for Covid-19 patients in private sector hospitals, apart from the 677 existing beds in 10 designated hospitals.

Delhi on Monday reported 635 more cases, taking the count to 14,053, the Delhi government’s daily bulletin reported. Fifteen deaths were reported, taking the tally to 276.“The bigger hospitals that have several blocks can manage to dedicate these beds. However, the challenge will be for smaller ones as they might not have enough space or separate entry and exits to ensure Covid-19 and non-covid patients are segregated properly. This might lead to a spread of the infection within the hospitals,” said Dr Girish Tyagi, president of Delhi Medical Association.dr PK Bharadwaj, secretary, Delhi Voluntary Hospitals forum, an association of large private hospitals, said, “We should learn from the experiences of other countries. In countries such as Italy and Spain, treating Covid-19 patients alongside non-covid patients ed to several hospitals becoming transmission hot spots.”

DELHI GOVT ORDERED RESERVATION OF 20% BEDS FOR PATIENTS IN 117 PRIVATE HOSPITALS