BHUBANESWAR: Amid the relentless surge of Covid-19, Bhubaneswar seems to be fast going the Delhi way. The scramble for beds by people to admit their disease-stricken kin and family members has assumed worrying proportions with private hospitals beginning to refuse patients under the plea of full-occupancy.
This comes in the face of tall claims of the State government and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) of having sufficient number of beds in the Capital city.
Most of the private hospitals have started putting up no vacancy boards and denying admissions even to those who require emergency critical care, citing dearth of beds.
When The New Indian Express called up some of the major hospitals having Covid beds to find out their availability, each proclaimed 100 per cent occupancy. AMRI staff dealing with Covid admissions said apart from general beds, the hospital’s 17 ICU beds have been occupied.
Similarly, one of the staff at the emergency cell of Care Hospitals, said that all the beds allotted for Covid patients in the health facility have remained occupied since Sunday.
“Not a single bed is available, either in Covid ward, isolation ward or the ICU,” he said and suggested to approach other private hospitals for admission.
Response of Sparsh hospital at Saheed Nagar was no different. The hospital has 40 ICU beds along with other normal beds for treatment of Covid patients.
However, admission of Covid patients at the hospital has been stopped for now as all the beds are occupied. Some other hospitals including Sunshine were not even accessible over phone.
However, the claims of private hospitals have been questioned and it is being alleged that they are only admitting the influential and powerful while turning away critical patients.
“As many as 200 beds were vacated in Noida only yesterday as they were found to be occupied by patients who did not require hospitalisation. Private hospitals may also be doing so.
Like Noida district magistrate, the State government should also regularly inspect private hospitals here to ensure only the most needy get beds and treatment. This will save many lives,’’ a citizen said.
Apart from increasing the bed strength in dedicated Covid hospitals (DCHs), the government had asked all private hospitals to set aside 50 per cent of their beds for Covid patients.
However, the BMC which is managing the Covid situation is yet to officially share details of bed availability in the private establishments of the city after implementation of the order.
Amid the bed crisis, allegations are being made that the doors of these private hospitals are only open for VIP patients only.
“Except for asking them to reserve 50 pc beds reserved for Covid patients, the BMC does not have any control over them”, Municipal Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said.
He, however, reiterated that sufficient numbers of beds are available with DCHs managed by government in private spaces and steps are being taken to scale it up further.
“Apart from the existing strength of 2,000 beds in different DCHs, we have started another 500-bed DCH at Hi-Tech hospital from today. Besides, a Covid care centre having 300 beds and oxygen has been made functional in Jamujhari to meet the increasing demand,” the Commissioner informed.
Bhubaneswar on Monday recorded 708 new cases against 350 recoveries. The city has 5,468 active cases now. Three more deaths were also reported on the day.