Will arrange 11K beds soon: BBMP chief

BENGALURU: To ensure that every needy person gets proper medical attention, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta on Friday said that talks are being held with private hospitals to tie up with Covid Care Centres and hotels.

He said that under the central hospital bed management system, 11,000 beds should be arranged at the earliest. Gupta, who also attended Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that importing oxygen, supplying the gas through tankers and cylinders and availability of beds in private hospitals were discussed.He said to ensure compliance of private hospitals in reserving beds, talks are being held with the police to conduct drives.

Asked why parks were still not closed, he said it is reported that coronavirus is more active in closed spaces and restrictions have been placed on restaurants, bars and other such places. No curbs have been put on open spaces. Based on the suggestions of experts and advisory committee, the State Government will take further decisions, he added.

Six hospitals raided

Following the directions of the State Government and acting as per the National Disaster Management Act, the Mahadevapura division of BBMP raided six hospitals for not reserving 50 per cent of beds for government-referred patients. On April 22, BBMP officials raided Jeevika, Brookefield and Koshys hospitals. On Friday, the teams raided Manipal Hospital in Whitefield, North Side and Sri Sai Hospitals. The BBMP also shut down the OPD of Manipal Hospital for two hours. According to BBMP officials, the hospital has 106 beds, but reserved only 42, instead of 56. Only after the management agreed and reserved the beds was the OPD service opened again, officials said.