Telangana Health department’s website which displays real time availability of beds in COVID-19 hospitals had an error which blocked information from at least four major government hospitals.
The phone numbers displayed against the four hospitals were that of faculty members from their respective microbiology departments and they were not related to uploading or disseminating information about availability of beds.
The website ‘health.telangana.gov.in’ displays availability of regular beds, oxygen beds, and ICU or ventilator beds in government and private hospitals. This data is updated regularly. Along with information on beds, phone numbers of each facility are mentioned. This initiative had been greatly appreciated by people from various quarters.
However, in the case of Gandhi Hospital, Chest Hospital, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences and Osmania General Hospital, contact numbers of their respective microbiology faculty had been displayed. Needless to say, their phones rang off the hook as anxious people dialled the numbers seeking bed availability information.
“I received many calls. It felt sad to tell them that I don’t have the information about beds. We don’t know who uploaded the numbers,” a faculty member said. Another said that he answered around 30-40 calls from hapless people.
When senior officials of the Health department were informed about the error, they said it will be corrected.
