NEW DELHI: All asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and those having mild symptoms are to be discharged from hospitals within 24 hours of admission, and district surveillance officers should be reported, according to a Delhi government order.
All hospitals have been asked to strictly comply with the directions, officials said.
He also announced that no hospital can deny treatment and testing to a suspected or asymptomatic patient.
"It has come to (our) notice that many asymptomatic and mild symptom cases have been admitted in the hospital facilities," said the order dated June 4.
“If a suspected patient goes to a hospital for treatment because of a shortage of breath or other issues, all hospitals deny admission and tell them to get tested first. How will the person get tested? We are issuing an important directive, under which no suspected patient will be denied admission and treatment by any hospital.
"Whether or not he/she is a Corona patient, their treatment should start immediately, and based on their tests later, they will be shifted to Corona or non-corona wards of the hospitals,” said Kejriwal.
The order, as per the guidelines issued by the government and the Delhi Heath Department earlier, asymptomatic and mild symptoms cases do not require hospitalisation, and are recommended to be either kept under home isolation or sent to COVID care centres or COVID health centres, if their houses are not suitable for home isolation.
The order had been signed by Delhi Heath Secretary Padmini Singla.
Any mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 patient should be discharged by a hospital within 24 hours, and the area district surveillance officer (DSO) should be informed about it, the order said.
In the order, the hospitals have been warned that non-compliance will be viewed seriously and invite legal action "without further notice".
Kejriwal also blamed some private labs for not following testing protocol and said that action has been taken against them.
But, denied that testing has slowed down and informed that 5,300 samples were received for testing in a single day, although also adding that that testing capacity is limited and that most mild and asymptomatic cases will recover and need not be tested.
"Our system will collapse out if asymptomatic cases also go for testing” said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. On Friday, Delhi recorded 1,330 fresh coronavirus cases taking the Covid-19 tally in the city beyond the 26,000-mark, as the death toll due to the disease jumped to 708.
Mild and asymptomatic cases will recover, but saving lives in case of serious patients whose oxygen levels have fallen should be our motive.
The move comes in the wake of family members of several COVID-19 patients claiming denial of admission for patients at various hospitals.
He emphasised that the government’s priority is saving lives of critical patients. “Our priority is saving the lives of the people."
The Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) has shared a reporting format with all the nodal officers of COVID hospitals responsible for sharing information, officials said.
The data fee will also reflect on Delhi Corona App.
The Delhi government had recently launched this app where people can find out in real-time the availability of beds in the city hospitals.
All hospitals have been asked to add details on their daily admissions of positive patients, discharges and changes in bed availability status on a real-time basis on that reporting portal, the order said.
"In addition, it must be noted that if there are any COVID-19 suspect admissions in the hospital facility, they must be kept in a separate ward and, therefore, the number of isolation beds dedicated for COVID patients must not be allocated to suspect patients," the government has ordered.
Delhi Heath Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said reports of "shortage of beds" in city hospitals were "misleading".
The highest spike in fresh cases — 1513 — was recorded on June 3. On June 1, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced sealing of Delhi’s borders for a week in the wake of rising numbers of coronavirus cases in the national capital.
The Delhi government had received over 7.5 lakh suggestions from people on whether the borders should be reopened and health services of hospitals be restricted to the treatment of only Delhiites, according to an official statement Friday evening.
(With PTI inputs)