Delhi govt to review ICU beds' shortage in Covid facilities: Satyendar Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said the department will review the surge of Covid-19 cases in the national Capital and the availability of Intensive Care Units (ICU) beds, especially for Coronavirus infected patients.

Jain's statement came amid reports that some private hospitals in Delhi were facing a shortage of ICU beds.

Jain, however, reiterated that these reports came from just one or two private hospitals and that the situation will be corrected. "We'll review the Covid-19 situation and other issues today. Shortage of beds came from one or two private hospitals and that situation will be corrected," he added.

Jain further stated that there was no shortage of ICU beds or ventilators in government hospitals in Delhi, pointing out that Delhi's hospitals are treating patients from within the capital and even those from outside with serious illnesses are coming here for treatment.

As Delhi witnesses another surge in coronavirus infections, several private hospitals and one government hospital in the city face a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds with ventilators, according to the Delhi government's Corona' application.

According to the application, all ICU beds with ventilators in the Central government's Northern Railway hospital, for instance are occupied. The condition is the same in the Holy Family Hospital in Okhla, the Fortis Hospital and the Max SS Hospital (both in Shalimar Bagh), the Navjeevan Hospital in Pitampura, the Kalra Hospital in Kirti Nagar and the Fortis SS hospital in Vasant Kunj, as per the app.

Other institutions which have run out of such beds include the Indian Spinal Injury Centre in Vasant Kunj, the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Punjabi Bagh, the Sri Balaji Action Medical Insititute in Paschim Vihar, the Ayushman Hospital in Dwarka and the Mool Chand Khairati Ram Hospital in Lajpat Nagar.

Besides this, 48 out of 76 private hospitals are running low on ICU beds with ventilators, with only one bed available in Sir Gangaram Hospital, showing that the city is unprepared to deal with a major surge at the moment.

Meanwhile, 536 Covid-19 ICU beds with ventilators out of 785, 880 ICU beds without ventilators out of 1,213 and 4,305 normal Covid-19 beds out of 5,777 are available, as per the latest data from Delhi government's mobile app on Covid-related information.

According to the application, 31.8 per cent of the ICU beds with ventilators are occupied across the city, while 27 per cent of ICU beds without ventilators are filled. On the brighter side, only 25 per cent of normal Covid-19 beds are in use.

--IANS

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