NITI Aayog recommends lower rates for isolation beds in Delhi hospitals

The committee has recommended Rs 8,000-10,000, 13,000-15,000 and 15,000-18,000, including PPE costs, for isolation beds

In the wake of the spurt in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, Home Minister Amit Shah has constituted a committee under a NITI Aayog member to fix rates charged by private hospitals in the national capital for isolation beds.

The committee has recommended Rs 8,000-10,000, 13,000-15,000 and 15,000-18,000 including PPE costs for isolation bed, ICUs without and with ventilator respectively to all hospitals as compared to the current charges of Rs 24,000-25,000, 34,000-43,000 and 44,000-54,000.

As per the directions given by Amit Shah in a series of meetings over the last few days, house-to-house health survey in 242 containment zones of Delhi was completed on Thursday, during which a total of 2.3 lakh people were surveyed.

On directions of the Home Minister to increase testing capacity and quick delivery of results in Delhi, testing via Rapid Antigen testing methodology was also started on Thursday. Over 7,040 people have been tested in 193 testing Centres.

The testing method involves looking for antibodies which are produced when the body is exposed to a pathogen.

The Home Ministry said that sample testing has been doubled immediately in pursuance of decisions taken by Shah in a series of meetings. The Ministry said that the testing will continue with increased numbers in coming days.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases inched closer to 50,000 mark on Friday, with 1,969 deaths. Delhi has 49,979 cases out of which over 21,341 people have recovered.