NEW DELHI: Reassuring people about the preparedness of the Delhi government, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday stated that beds are being constantly expanded for Covid patients. Augmenting the total number of beds in the national capital, the Delhi government on Monday declared 14 private hospitals in the city as ‘full Covid-19’ facilities and directed them not to admit any non-Covid patients till further orders. These included the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar, the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the Holy Family Hospital, the Max SS Hospital and the Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh.
In addition to this, 19 private hospitals have also been directed to reserve atleast 80 per cent of their ICU beds for Covid-related treatment. Eighty-two private hospitals have been asked to set aside at least 60 per cent of their ICU beds for coronavirus patients, taking a total of 115 private hospital which have been directed to reserve beds which is more than 5,000 beds reserved.
The Delhi government has also written to the Centre to again scale up Covid beds in its hospitals here, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday. He also appealed to people to step out of homes only if necessary and wear masks all the time.Asked about the bed requirements in view of escalating cases, Jain said, “We are ramping up medical infrastructure post the surge in cases and 5000 beds have been added in last one week.”
“We have also written to the Centre to again scale up Covid beds in its hospitals in Delhi in view of the massive surge. As of now, about 1,090 beds are there in their hospitals, which was above 4,000 during last surge. So, our request is to scale up back to that level,” the minister said. Talking about ventilators requirements, Jain said, “About 50 per cent Covid beds in total are still available in hospitals. And, ventilator beds may be occupied, but very few patients are actually on ventilator.” The minister reiterated that it was absolutely necessary to wear a mask when stepping out of the house. On Covidcare centres, he said out of 5,525 beds, only about two per cent or 190 of those are occupied.
“Temporary Covid care centres will be set up at different places as per the need,” he said, adding, “There are only two types of beds — ICU beds and normal ward beds. A year ago, the issue of the number of ventilators was huge. Now, we have HFNO, Bi-Pap and high-flow oxygen, which are equally good as ventilators. “
We should know that not every patient requires a ventilator; only 2-3 per cent need it. If a ventilator bed is occupied, it is counted as a patient being on a ventilator, but when it comes to the actual use of ventilators, the number of patients using them is very less,” the health minister added.