Mumbai, Delhi to use hotels, banquet halls for covid treatment

With the country recording over 2 lakh cases in the last 24 hours, many cities have been struggling to accommodate Covid-19 patients in hospitals. As such, cities like Delhi and Mumbai have gone ahead and converted hotels and banquet halls into Covid units to treat less critical patients.

According to reports, in Mumbai, hospitals have decided to use luxury hotels to treat Covid-19 patients with milder infection. Private hospitals will tie up with four star or five star hotels to accommodate more patients. However, doctors will have to approve such transfers.

The Gateway of India remained deserted on Wednesday as the Maharashtra government has imposed curfew for 15 days to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases. (PTI)

The hotels, designated as “step down facilities” where minimum medical intervention is required for Covid patients, will act as extensions of major private hospitals, according to the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation). The hotels will need a minimum of 20 rooms for Covid cases and will have round-the-clock medical services including doctor consultations, nurses, medicines and ambulance transfer. The hospitals can charge up to ₹ 4,000 for these facilities and ₹ 6,000 for a room if anyone is staying with the patient.

The order came as Mumbai recorded 9,931 new cases and 54 deaths on Wednesday.

In Delhi, too, the situation is not very different. The city reported the highest single-day spike with 17,282 new Covid cases and 104 deaths Wednesday. In order to tackle a shortage of beds and critical care facilities, the Delhi government issued orders to attach hotels and banquet halls with private and government hospitals, to add more beds for Covid patients.

Labourers work on a quarantine facility at the Common Wealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

While 23 private hospitals have been linked with hotels and banquets, five Delhi government hospitals have been attached with banquet halls. The hotels include Seven Seas Hotel, Caspia Hotel Fraser Suites, Mayur Vihar, Hotel Surya, Park Inn by Radisson Lajpat Nagar IV and Crowne Plaza Hotel. After these additions, around 2,900 mode beds will be available for Covid patients. Hotels and banquet halls will have the facility to administer oxygen to patients. Rs 5,000 per day per room can be charged by five-star hotels. The amount is Rs 4,000 in case of four-star hotels.