Delhi: Take over hospital and pay us rent, says owner

NEW DELHI: On May 24, when Delhi government ordered that all private hospitals with 50 or more beds would have to reserve 20% of their beds for Covid-19 patients, Dr Pankaj Solanki who runs a 50-bed hospital in Rohini called his staff and told them about it.
“The laundry staff, ambulance driver, housekeeping staff and even the security agency employed by us refused to work in the Covid-19 section,” Dr Solanki, owner of Dharamveer Solanki multi-specialty hospital, told TOI.
In the first two weeks of June, Dr Solanki added, he and his wife, who is also a doctor, interviewed around 200 to 300 people to join them.
“Few good people joined us and we started a 10-bed Covid ICU from June 13. We had to make some changes in the infrastructure and buy equipment as well,” the 38-year-old doctor, a first generation entrepreneur, said.
In the last 17 days, he added, only seven Covid-19 patients have come. “One of them is my own relative,” Dr Solanki said, adding that non-Covid patients, on the other hand, have stopped coming. “Before we started Covid services, our hospital used to have a daily footfall of 30-35 patients in the OPD and around 25 indoor admissions happened in a month’s time. The OPD footfall has now reduced to two to three patients daily, there have been only two non-Covid admissions and not a single surgery has been conducted over the past fortnight,” the doctor said.
“I have to give salaries and pay bills but unfortunately there’s not enough money in hand. No savings left either,” he added. Dr Solanki spent his life’s savings, borrowed money from family and friends and took a hefty sum on loan from banks. He doesn’t know how to repay that under the current circumstances.
“I will meet the state health authorities in a day or two and request them to take over my hospital and pay me some rent,” the doctor said.
Dr Harish Gupta, who runs a hospital in East Delhi, said the smaller hospitals are finding it difficult to survive. “Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms are preferring home isolation. Those with moderate to severe symptoms rush to big private hospitals because they have better facilities and the rates are capped. Smaller facilities are lying vacant,” he said.