Updated: November 20, 2020 8:26:45 am
Announcing the increase in the mask penalty, Kejriwal said the decision was made because “many people” ventured out without wearing them, putting lives at risk.
Facing a sharp increase in Covid cases, Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that all private hospitals in the capital will have to reserve 80 percent of their ICU beds and up to 60 percent of those. normal beds for coronavirus patients, and postpone non-critical surgeries. Kejriwal also said that the penalty for not wearing masks has been quadrupled, from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000.
Hours after the announcement, the Health Department issued an order, ordering 42 private hospitals to implement the decision, which will lead to an increase of 260 ICU Covid beds. On another note, 90 private hospitals have been asked to reserve 60 percent of their total bed capacity for Covid patients. Health Minister Satyendar Jain said this will lead to an increase of 2,644 beds.
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Meanwhile, the Home Office advised the Haryana and UP governments to conduct a survey of private hospitals in their NCR districts to address the crisis.
In a webcast, Kejriwal said that in addition to private hospitals, 663 beds will be added in Delhi government hospitals. The central government has also secured “750 additional beds in the hospitals run by the Center, which means that we will have around 1,413 additional ICU beds in the coming days in Delhi,” he said.
Announcing the increase in the mask penalty, Kejriwal said the decision was made because “many people” ventured out without wearing them, putting lives at risk. Delhi has been consistently registering more than 7,000 new cases daily, which has put great pressure on critical care facilities and healthcare workers.
The decision to order private hospitals to reserve ICU beds comes after a legal dispute between the Delhi government and the Association of Healthcare Providers (AHPI). The association had challenged the decision, which was first announced on September 12, to reserve 80% of ICU beds in 33 private hospitals.
The order was suspended by the Delhi High Court on September 22. Following an appeal from the state government, the suspension was overturned on November 12.
“After the Delhi High Court granted permission last week, we had allocated 80 percent of the ICU beds in 30-32 hospitals for the treatment of Corona patients. This order has been implemented today in all private hospitals in Delhi. This will result in the availability of 300 to 400 more ICU beds. The reserve of non-ICU beds in private hospitals has also increased from 50% to 60% for a few days. All planned non-critical surgeries will be stopped or postponed for a few days, ”Kejriwal said.
When contacted by AHPI CEO Dr. Girdhar Gyani, he told The Indian Express that the organization had opposed the measure as some of these critical care facilities are dedicated to cancer care, transplants kidney and liver, and stroke and heart surgery.
“How can a hospital with 40 ICU beds allocate 80 percent of those beds to Covid patients and the rest to non-Covid patients? In the absence of proper segregation, the remaining 20% of the beds cannot be used for non-Covid patients. Instead, the government should designate a few more private hospitals as Covid facilities and reserve some for other life-threatening ailments, ”he said.
“The government of India had issued clear instructions in March not to mix Covid and non-Covid patients in the same hospital or wards. We need to enforce that as not doing so also results in further spread of the infection. AHPI is totally in favor of using the private sector in full force, but would like to follow the demarcation / segregation along logical lines, “said Gyani.
According to the government, only 140 ICU beds with ventilators were empty Thursday night, while 319 ICU beds without ventilators were available.
Later on Thursday, following an inspection of the DDU Hospital, the Chief Minister told reporters that the Center has not yet made new ICU beds available after a guarantee from the Union Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, during a review meeting on November 15.
“The Interior Minister had said that by Monday night, we will be provided 250 beds, and another 250 by Tuesday … we will be assigned around 750 ICU beds, 500 beds with fans and 250 beds without fans. We are still waiting, ”Kejriwal said.
However, the Interior Ministry said that more than 28,708 RT-PCR tests have been carried out since the meeting. The Ministry has maintained a target of 60,000 RT PCR tests per day by the end of November.
“About 150 ICU beds have been added in the last three days in Delhi. In addition, the current capacity of 3,652 ICU beds will be further increased. The train cars with 800 beds at the Shakur Basti train station will now be functional with CAPF doctors and paramedics to attend to them, ”said a statement from the Ministry.
He said that 75 doctors and 251 paramedics from the Central Police Armed Forces have reported for duty. Of these, 50 doctors and 175 paramedics have been deployed to Chhatarpur and Shakur Basti railway station.
The Ministry said that 500 isolation beds at the Covid care center in Chhatarpur will be converted to beds with oxygen facilities by the weekend.
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