CM appealed to people not to press for hospitalisation in cases where doctors advise home quarantine. (Source: Twitter/AAP)
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday launched a mobile app replete with information on availability of beds and ventilators in the city’s Covid-designated hospitals.
He said the app, Delhi Corona, which has been developed in-house, will help plug the prevailing “information gap”, which has manifested itself in the form of patients and their families sometimes running pillar to post to secure admission in hospitals.
We are launching an app today which will give everyone the status of hospital beds and ventilator availability in Delhi https://t.co/IspK1fVITC https://t.co/5BPdmog5cX
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 2, 2020
However, the CM appealed to people not to press for hospitalisation in cases where doctors advise home quarantine. Until Tuesday night, there were 12,573 active coronavirus cases in the capital.
“Although cases are rising, we have adequate beds, ICUs, ventilators to meet the demand. But on one hand, we say there are no deficiencies, on the other hand there is an information gap. People find it difficult to check availability of beds, ICUs and ventilators. This app will help plug the information gap,” he said.
It will be updated twice a day, at 10 am and 6 pm.
The app, last updated at 10 am on Tuesday morning, reflected that out of the 6,731 beds designated for Covid patients across 65 health facilities — including government hospitals, private hospitals and nursing homes — 2,819 are occupied and 3,912 vacant. In terms of ventilators for Covid patients, the app showed that 92 are being used and 210 are unused. There are 13 hospitals with ventilator facilities.
A government official said the app carries information reported by nodal officers of each dedicated Covid hospital.
Out of the four Centre-run hospitals with ventilators, bed occupancy at two was over 90%, and over 80% at the other two. Out of the 136 ventilators here, 18 were being utilised.
At the two Delhi government hospitals with ventilators — Lok Nayak and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital — the bed occupancy rates are 43.6% and 27.8% respectively. Out of 93 ventilators available in these facilities, 48 are being used.
Out of the seven private hospitals with ventilators, the occupancy rate at three is above 90%, while over 80% beds are full at another three. There are 73 ventilators available in these hospitals, out of which 26 are being used.
The bilingual app can be downloaded from the Google Play store. It is currently available only for Android users.
Information on the app has been made available at the portal https://coronabeds.jantasamvad.org. The information will also be shared via SMS with those dialling the helpline number 1031, Kejriwal said. He also issued a WhatsApp number, 8800007722, for this purpose.
“If you are denied admission in any hospital despite the app saying beds are available, call 1031 to lodge your grievance, and the special secretary of the Health Department will ensure beds are made available to you,” he said.
During the launch, Kejriwal reiterated that Delhi’s healthcare infrastructure is adequately equipped to handle the situation, “unlike many other cities that witnessed shortcomings, and people succumbed to the infection”.
The app also contains updates on daily and total tests, addresses of Covid-designated hospitals, care centres, test centres and containment zones among others. The addresses are also plotted on Google Maps for easy reference.
It has a tool for self-assessment for those showing Covid symptoms. Another segment has details on lockdown relief measures such as links to application for ration, application for e-passes, addresses of hunger relief centres and migrant shelter homes.