With an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka and beds filling fast in hospitals, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday asked private hospitals to dedicate 2,500 beds for COVID-19 patients in Bengaluru. However, hospital managements said they were ready to set aside only 2,000 beds.

Out of the 2,000 beds to be set aside in private hospitals, managements said 1,000 will be for patients referred by public health authorities. The cost of treatment of these patients will be reimbursed by the government under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) scheme. The remaining 1,000 beds will be for patients who have to pay their own medical bills.

R. Ravindra, president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association, said that private hospital managements would provide 750 beds for COVID-19 patients on Tuesday. An additional 250 beds would be set aside for them by end of the week.

Earlier during the day, the Chief Minister chaired a meeting with representatives of private hospitals and asked them to dedicate 2,500 beds for virus-infected patients by Tuesday.

However, a private hospital management member said: “With 50% of our beds now reserved for COVID-19 patients, we are likely to run out of beds for non-COVID-19 patients. We have to ensure that patients who have other illnesses are not turned away due to shortage of beds in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, a meeting with 11 private medical college managements will be held on Tuesday, and managements will be asked to dedicate 5,000 beds of the total available 10,000 in hospitals attached to colleges.

Mr. Yediyurappa appealed to people not to panic as the number of cases in Bengaluru was less compared to other metropolitan cities in the country. He is expected to announce new restrictions and guidelines after the first week of July.