NEW DELHI: With the number of Covid-19 cases in Delhi rising, the AAP government is worried about ‘non-residents’ filling up the hospitals. According to a study done by the Delhi government on the number of admissions in the last one month at government and private hospitals in the national capital, it has been observed that around 30 per cent of the coronavirus patients are from other states and their number is only increasing.
According to sources, between July 26 to August 28 there have been around 10,099 admissions in government hospitals, out of which 2,874 were from outside Delhi. In the same period, around 397 deaths have been recorded in the hospitals of which 210 are of non-residents.
The month’s data collated till August 28 showed that around 900 hospital beds have been occupied so far.
The highest number of hospital admissions is from the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Of the 120 non-residents admitted to Delhi hospitals on August 28, as many as 64 belonged to UP, while 39 were from Haryana.
The report highlights that the occupancy of non-Delhiites in city hospitals is around 30-33 per cent in August. The data pointed to a similar occupancy rate is in some major private hospitals. Of the 98 patients admitted to BL Kapoor Hospital, 51 were from outside the city. Similarly, 111 out of 158 patients admitted to Apollo Hospital were not from Delhi.
Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain earlier this month had said that around 35% of beds in Covid hospitals in the capital are currently occupied by patients from other states. In June, CM Arvind Kejriwal had announced to reserve the beds in government as well as private hospitals for Delhiites, but the order had been reversed by L-G Anil Baijal a day later.