Rush for beds: BBMP chief blames pvt labs

BENGALURU: People have been forced to wait for long to get beds because of the negligence of private laboratories. So now the government has issued directions to them to first upload the details of Covid-19 positives on the ICMR portal, and not give it directly to patients, said BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar on Tuesday.

He said unlike government hospitals, where all the details of positive patients are first uploaded on the ICMR website, private laboratories were first informing patients, who would then rush to hospitals and not get proper timely medical attention.

“Directions have been issued that data must be put on the portal and we (government agencies) will pick up the patients within six hours and based on their condition, we will send them to either designated hospitals or Covid Care Centres. To ensure there is no shortage of beds, positive, asymptomatic and healthy patients, will be quarantined in CCCs, but those with co-morbidities and severe health conditions will be sent to hospitals. Information on beds is also being streamlined and monitored by the control room,” he added.

He was addressing the BBMP Council meeting, where questions on the lack of facilities were raised. The Commissioner said that families were refusing to accept the Covid-19 deceased. To give the deceased due farewell, two hearses equipped with four PPEs for families have been arranged.

Mayor M Goutham Kumar asked the Commissioner to publish the list of officials in charge of each zone, ward, ambulance, hospitals, where people can call for help or when they need to notigy a positive case.