Covid 19: Private hospitals to reserve 50% beds for govt patients

BENGALURU: With cases rising rapidly, the Karnataka government instructed private hospitals and health facilities to reserve 50% of their beds for government-referred Covid-19 patients. Just a day ago, the government had directed private hospitals to reserve 20% of beds for Covid care. 

On Tuesday, the government modified the rule to make it mandatory for them to set aside half their bed capacity — including high dependency units (HDU) and ICU beds with and without ventilator. The government also said that private establishments are free to use the remaining beds to treat Covid patients who come on their own. 

These were the rules specified in the government order dated June 23, 2020, which has been invoked again. The order also restored the rates the government had specified last year for treatment of Covid patients. Requisitioning of hospitals for government patients will be done BBMP Chief Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of districts.  For patients referred by the government, charges for the general ward have been fixed at Rs 5,200, Rs 7,000 for HDU, Rs 8,500 for isolation ICU without ventilator and Rs 10,000 for isolation ICU with ventilator.

For private patients, rates have been fixed at Rs 10,000 for the general ward, Rs 12,000 for HDU, Rs 15,000 for isolation ICU without ventilator, and at Rs 25,000 for isolation ICU with ventilator.