Delhi govt to add 1,000 ICU beds at Ramlila grounds
NEW DELHI: With Delhi running out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds by Tuesday, and with no let-up in the number of fresh cases of Covid-19 being reported from the city, ICU facilities are being created at central Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan and another vacant Ramlila ground in east Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Tuesday. The facility in central Delhi will be linked to the Lok Nayak hospital while the one in east Delhi will be attached to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, Kejriwal said.
The two facilities will be in addition to the 200 ICU beds that are being readied at the Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur. All 1,200 ICU beds will be ready by May 10, the chief minister said.
“We are arranging 500 ICU beds at the Ramlila ground in front of GTB hospital. Another 500 ICU beds are being readied at the main Ramlila Maidan in front of Lok Nayak hospital. At the Radha Saomi Satsang facility, we are arranging 200 ICU beds. By May 10, we will add 1,200 ICU beds to our Covid-19 infrastructure which is now completely overstretched,” Kejand riwal said. He further said this wave of Covid-19 is more “dangerous” because it is more infectious and is making people severely ill.
“Despite trying our best, every hospital in Delhi is currently overburdened. Each hospital is treating patients beyond its capacity. All ICU beds are full. The Central government gave us 500 ICU beds at the DRDO facility in Delhi Cantonment, but all beds there got filled in just three hours. That means Delhi has so many serious patients roaming around the city in search of ICU beds and treatment,” he said.
Spokespersons of Lok Nayak GTB hospitals were unavailable for comment.
With Delhi continuing to report well over 20,000 fresh cases of Covid-19 every day since the past 10 days (from April 17), the city has run out of dedicated ICU beds for Covid-19 patients.
North MCD mayor Jai Prakash, under whose jurisdiction the Ramlila Maidan in central Delhi falls, said, “We have granted permission to the Delhi government to convert the Ramlila Maidan into an ICU facility of 500 beds... We also assured the government of our cooperation and help to control this pandemic.”