UP: At private hospitals, Covid beds filling fast

NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: As Covid-19 cases go up again, private hospitals in Noida and Ghaziabad are running in full capacity while the government hospitals have half or more beds empty with occupancy ranging between 25% and 50%. While four private hospitals in Noida are packed to 80-95% capacity and Fortis fully occupied, Child PGI and Noida Covid hospital are almost 90% vacant.
In Ghaziabad, 10 private hospitals have 50% occupancy as compared to four government facilities where occupancy is 25%. There are more patients, around 372, in home isolation in Ghaziabad while Noida has 72 patients in home isolation currently.

Of the 1,114 active cases in Noida till Wednesday, about 395 or 68% patients were in private hospitals having a total of 578 beds whereas 418 or 30% patients were in government hospitals that have 1,388 beds. Around 229 remaining patients are either in other districts of Delhi-NCR or are awaiting hospital allocation.
Of these, private hospitals are nearly 78-89% full. Fortis in Noida Sector 62, for example, has 40 beds for Covid care and nine beds for Covid ICU and it is completely occupied. Similarly, Jaypee hospital with 65 beds for Covid patients has 58 occupied. Of the 264 Covid beds in Yatharth hospital, 206 beds are full.
Government hospitals in Noida such as Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) has 250 beds for Covid patients and only 132 beds are occupied. The situation is grimmer in Sharda hospital which has 400 Covid beds and only 128 have takers. Similarly, the newly opened 168-bed Noida Covid Hospital (NCH) in Sector 39 has just 71 patients, Child PGI in Noida Sector 30 has only four patients against 120 Covid beds and Noida International Institute of Medical Sciences (NIIMS) in Greater Noida has 47 beds occupied of the total 250 beds. The 200-bed Covid care unit in Sector 125 also has just 36 patients.
Dr Sunil Kumar, medical superintendent of Yatharth hospital said that patients are opting more for private facilities because of comfort, promptness towards treatment and better facilities. While a spokesperson from Fortis Sector 62 said that their occupancy has always been 80-85%, spokesperson of Sharda hospital Ajit Kumar said that even with a capacity of 600 beds, patient count has never exceeded 150.
The situation is similar in Ghaziabad. While the 10 private hospitals always have 50% occupancy, the four government hospitals in the district are barely 26% full. Also, the district has 372 patients in home isolation, compared to only 72 in Noida.