Alarming that not even 10 per cent beds in Delhi govt hospitals are in ICUs: HC

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it was "alarming" that not even 10 per cent of the over 10,000 beds in all the AAP government-run hospitals in the national capital were in the intensive care unit sections, adding that there was a need to remedy the shortcoming.

"It is really alarming that of the over 10,000 beds in all the Delhi government hospitals together, there are only 348 ICU beds," a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao observed, after it was shown a list of the number of ICU and ventilator beds in public and private hospitals.

According to the list placed before the bench by advocate Ashok Aggarwal, the 33 Delhi government-run hospitals in the city has 10,059 beds, of which 348 -- 3.4 per cent -- are in the ICUs.

In a sharp contrast, private hospitals like Max Patparganj, VIMHANS, Fortis, Sir Ganga Ram have over 10 per cent of their total beds in ICUs, according to the list.

The Delhi government's additional standing counsel, Satyakam, told the court that he needed to verify the numbers.

The court also asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital about the steps it was taking to increase the number of beds with ventilator support.

The query was posed after the Delhi government lawyer said, "We have a long waiting (period) for ventilators."