Six private hospitals in Delhi struck off list of treatment units

Durgesh Nandan Jha | TNN | Updated: Apr 14, 2020, 06:14 IST

Picture used for representational purpose only

NEW DELHI: Six out of nine private hospitals approved for Covid-19 treatment in Delhi have been removed from the designated list. These include BLK Super Specialty Hospital, Fortis hospitals in Vasant Kunj and Shalimar Bagh, and Venkateshwar Hospital in Dwarka.
Sources said the state government took this decision because the isolation beds were created within the hospital premises instead of being standalone units, and they had been lying vacant.
"...in order to optimally utilise the available resources of the health sector, both for Covid-19 patients or otherwise, presently only those private hospitals shall be authorised for indoor admission of Covid-19 suspects and positive cases where either the entire hospital building or a dedicated separate block of the hospital has been provisioned for the treatment of such patients," reads the government order dated April 6.
Pvt hospitals may transfer poor patients
Hospitals that have been removed from the list of designated centres confirmed the information. “We are keeping the isolation beds ready. As and when the government wants us to start admitting Covid-19 patients, we will be operationalise them,” an official of Fortis group said.
Now, only Indraprastha Apollo, which has 50 isolation beds, Max Saket, which has a provision of 328 beds (36 beds in first phase) and 42-bed Sir Ganga Ram Kolmet Hospital can admit Covid-19 suspects and patients because they have standalone facilities. The government order also says that these hospitals shall charge the patient for treatment as per their respective schedule of charges.
“However, in case a Covid-19 patient (suspected or confirmed) is unable to afford the expenses of his or her treatment, the private hospital concerned is advised to transfer such a patient to a government designated Covid-19 hospital during the initial stage of his or her admission,” the government order, a copy of which is with TOI, states. It adds that private hospitals shall refrain from transferring a Covid-19 patient (suspected or confirmed) who is on ventilator support to a government hospital.
Delhi is the second most affected state in the country by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than half the hospital beds identified for isolation of Covid-19 cases are full already. To augment its capacity, Delhi government has directed Lok Nayak, which has 1,200 dedicated beds at present, to create an additional 500-bed capacity by utilising the OPD spaces and the newly constructed block of the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences.
The state government issued new orders directing authorities at the Guru Nanak Eye Centre to hand over 200 beds immediately to the head of LNJP Hospital with the existing paraphernalia.