After audit, vacant hosp beds show up in Gzb

Ghaziabad: At a time when ICU and oxygen beds are hard to find, private hospitals in the district have reported several vacant ones over the past three days. The reason, officials say, is a crackdown by the administration on private Covid facilities, most of which have been claiming full occupancy.
According to official data, there are 51 Covid hospitals in the district, including five government ones. Together, these facilities have 3,141 Covid beds, including 747 ICU beds. Till May 8, almost all ICU beds were full and only a few oxygen beds were available in some hospitals. But following a recent audit and subsequent meetings with hospital representatives, several vacant critical care beds were found.
While on May 9, six ICU and 27 oxygen beds were available at private hospitals, the number went up to nine ICU, one ventilator and 44 oxygen beds the next day. On Tuesday (May 11), 22 ICU, two ventilator and 48 oxygen beds were free across 46 private hospitals.
From April-end, an audit is being conducted by the district administration and senior officials in PPE have been taking stock of beds at private facilities. According to sources, during the audit, it was found that many private hospitals, including a few prominent ones, had vacant ICU and oxygen beds. But they had put up “no vacancy” sign boards and were not attending to critical patients at all. But what made the administration conduct an audit? Sources said the decision was taken after orders to provide beds by senior health and administrative officials were ignored.
Apart from that, several hospitals were not providing even 10% beds for the government integrated Covid command centre, as per state government order. State-appointed nodal officer Senthil Pandian C said: “The hospital officials never thought that we would enter their premises and conduct a head count for beds. Now, hospital officials are informing us about vacant beds on their own.” Health department sources claim that hospital owners had adopted a “pick and choose” policy instead of “first come, first serve”.
“Many beds were booked in advance and kept ready for influential people. In some cases, asymptomatic people were found occupying beds. Some hospitals flouted waste disposal norms and did not have qualified staff,” a source said.
Dr Mithilesh Kumar, Ghaziabad municipal corporation’s health officer, who is part of the audit team said: “It was wrong on the part of the hospitals to hide the actual status. Many Ghaziabad residents could not get beds because of this ‘virtual’ scarcity created by private hospitals. We will continue with the audit and ensure that such things are not repeated.” Officials said the health department has recommended revocation of licence for one hospital and suspension for another. Senior administrative officials said given the situation, no coercive measures are being taken against other facilities, except for issuing show-cause notices. The audit team included Ghaziabad municipal commissioner Mahender Singh Tawar and Kumar, who is also the nodal officer of private hospitals, among others. “We have issued show-cause notices to some hospitals and are planning to write to the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers after we finish the process,” Kumar said. Officials are also planning an audit of Covid deaths and medical bills issued to patients.
According to an estimate, about 30% beds in the district are occupied by Delhi residents. Officiating district magistrate Krishna Karunesh has asked private Covid hospitals to get additional ICU beds in a couple of days.