Covid beds increased at several govt hospitals

New Delhi, April 14: The Delhi government on Wednesday issued an order to augment the number of beds reserved for Covid-19 patients at its hospitals and attach banquet halls and hotels to these facilities, amid a massive surge in cases in the city.

In view of the surge in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, it has been decided to designate an increased number of beds at the city government-run hospitals for confirmed or suspected cases of the coronavirus infection, the order said.

These include the GTB Hospital, where the number of ICU beds with ventilators has been increased from 100 to 128 and ICU beds without ventilators from 100 to 272.

At the SGM Hospital, the number of Covid beds has gone up from 20 to 48, the order said.

Overall, the number of beds across 11 hospitals has gone up from 4,503 to 5,221, ICU beds with ventilators from 628 to 656 and ICU beds without ventilators from 687 to 874, it added.

Delhi health minster Satyendar Jain took to Twitter to announce the increase in the number of the beds. “Coronavirus cases are steadily increasing in the capital. To combat the same, the number of beds in all Delhi government hospitals has been escalated with immediate effect – 718 beds with oxygen support and 187 ICU beds have been added. Stay safe,” he said in a tweet.

In another tweet, he shared copies of the order on attaching of banquet halls and hotels with hospitals. “It has been directed that hotels be attached to private hospitals to augment bed capacity,” he said.

According to the Delhi Corona App, in 75 of the 110 hospitals, all Covid-19 ICU beds without ventilators had patients. Out of 1,177 Covid ICU beds with ventilators, only 79 were vacant, while 348 out of 2,130 Covid ICU beds without ventilators were vacant, according to the app. Also, out of the total 13,680 beds, 9,041 were occupied.

As per the Delhi Corona App, 69 hospitals where no Covid ICU beds with ventilators were vacant included Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (100 such beds in total), Safdarjung Hospital (50), BSA Hospital (30) and Max hospital at Patparganj (10).

Also, Apollo hospital (8) and Fortis hospital at Shalimar Bagh (5 such beds in total) were fully occupied, as per the app.