Covid-19: 1,116 out of 12,104 oxygen beds in Delhi hospitals occupied

A total of 1,116 COVID-19 oxygen beds out of 12,104 are occupied in the Delhi hospitals, while 72 ICU beds with ventilators have patients, with city Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying the numbers do not mean that the patients require oxygen or ventilator support.

Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital's medical director Dr Suresh Kumar said only four coronavirus patients are on ventilator support at the facility and they have comorbid conditions.

"One of the ventilator patients has brain tuberculosis, one has cancer and both are aged. Bed occupancy is more due to people who have comorbid conditions along with Covid," he said.

The hospital currently has 35 patients who are suspected to have contracted the Omicron variant of the virus. Their reports are awaited, while 150 patients infected with the variant of concern have been discharged from the hospital since December 1.

Jain allayed fears about the numbers showing on the Delhi Corona mobile application and said most of the hospital beds in the city are oxygen beds and a patient occupying an oxygen bed does not necessarily mean that he requires the life-saving gas.

He also said of the 750 beds in the LNJP hospital, 500 are oxygen beds.

Jain said the discrepancy in the data on hospital bed occupancy on the Delhi Corona app and the government's health bulletin is because "most beds in the hospitals have been converted into oxygenated beds".

"If there are patients on such beds, it does not mean they require oxygen. Similarly, if a patient is on a ventilator bed, it does not mean he requires ventilator support," the health minister added.

According to the Delhi Corona app, of the 12,104 oxygen beds, 1,116 are occupied and of the 1,677 ICU beds with ventilators, 72 are occupied in the national capital.