NEW DELHI: Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday ordered Delhi hospitals to display the availability of COVID and non-COVID beds, charges for rooms or beds along with contact details on a LED board outside the hospital.

The order, aimed at increasing transparency, comes following several complaints of patients being denied admission in the hospitals and even unable to get themselves tested for the coronavirus. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced restricting the treatment of coronavirus patients in state-run hospitals only to city dwellers. This decision was later overruled by Baijal.

“Health department may kindly also be advised to ensure that data displayed on these LED boards is reconciled with the data available on the government app/portal. Further, periodic surprise checks may also be conducted by the officers deputed by Delhi Disaster Management Authority to ensure that correct data is displayed by hospitals/clinics/nursing homes concerned and no eligible/genuine patient is denied admission or overcharged,” Baijal’s latest order said.

A week ago, the Delhi government had launched a mobile application to give live status of the beds and ventilators available in various hospitals. But there were complaints that the app did not give accurate information.

The L-G’s order also comes in the wake of the Delhi government admitting that there was a dire need for beds. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told the media via a video conference on Wednesday that the city could fall short of beds as the number of cases was rising rapidly.

According to official data, some government hospitals still continue to have some beds available. Delhi has come in the limelight after reports of several people being denied admission in hospitals began to surface.

Delhi has over 31,000 positive cases of COVID-19. On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the government estimates that the confirmed cases would go up to 1 lakh by June 30 and 5.5 lakh by
July end.