Published from Mumbai, Delhi & Bhopal

Delhi CM seeks Hindu Rao, Dayanand hospitals be made Covid only

New Delhi: With Delhi reeling under surging Covid-19 cases, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday suggested that the Hindu Rao and Swami Dayanand hospitals, coming under the BJP-ruled MCDs, be made Covid hospitals.

Making the suggestion at a review meeting on the Covid situation, he said that this measure will lead to an increase of 900 beds for Covid patients, as he sought full cooperation and no politics on the matter.

The Chief Minister also assured every possible help, including funds, to the MCD hospitals.

Kejriwal said that the focus of his government is towards increasing the bed capacity, which will ensure adequate treatment for people requiring urgent assistance, and the government and private hospitals should aim towards taking over more facilities.

It was also suggested that a time-bound preparation plan should be prepared to monitor the increase and availability of beds.

Noting that he came across a situation recently where an asymptomatic patient was turned back from a hospital and created a ruckus, Kejriwal said: “This situation should never happen.”

“We must issue an order to allow directing patients to our Covid Care Centres (CCCs), to make the patient feel safe and in the care of the doctors. More and more patients should be shifted to these centres to cater to very critical patients in the hospitals.”

“Secondly, all the helpline numbers of the hospitals, which are also mentioned on our app, should remain fully functional. The hospitals must be directed to make people available round the clock for providing assistance through the helpline numbers. Thirdly, all the hospitals must be directed to ensure an adequate flow of information on the real-time availability of beds. This data should be updated every day,” Kejriwal said.

In the meeting, special focus was laid on the three-tier arrangement of health infrastructure in Delhi, of which first is home isolation, second is Covid Care Centres, and third is an increase in beds and facilities in hospitals in Delhi.

Additionally, the Delhi government has requested the Centre to increase and make 2,700 beds from Central government hospitals available for the treatment of coronavirus patients.

Currently, around 15,048 beds have been made available as Covid beds, out of which over 5,000 beds are empty.

The availability of 2,700 beds will further increase the Covid bed capacity in Delhi to around 20,000.

Along with this, the current number of ambulances available with the Delhi government is 629, and the current response time is 14 minutes, with no refusals recorded.

Hindi Website