Confusion over 2 portals, mismatch in hospital bed data

Gurgaon: Two portals for hospital admissions in the city are ending up confusing people, and there’s the additional conundrum of data mismatch as well. The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s (GMDA) portal — HRheal — for hospital bed availability for Covid-19 patients recently went live. Before this, hospital admissions were only happening through Gurugram Covid Combat Companion (GC3) operated by the district administration.
At 10.45am on Tuesday, HRheal showed 19 oxygen beds and 3 ICU beds were free at Aryan Hospital but at the same time, GC3 showed there were no beds available there. There were similar variations at other hospitals as well.
Some people TOI spoke to said they went to different hospitals hoping to get a bed based on HRheal data, but were turned away. “Both portals are being managed by civic bodies and how both have different data on beds is baffling,” said Prakash Sharma, a resident of Sector 31, who was trying to get an ICU bed for his Covid-positive mother.
Suraj Wadhwa, a Sector 51 resident who was also seeking an ICU bed, said: “I called up SGT and Medeor hospitals as the HRheal portal said ICU beds were available there, but they said they have none vacant.”
Moreover, GC3, a district portal, shows that 469 beds are available in Gurgaon, whereas according to the HRheal portal — where one can see data of all Haryana’s hospitals — there are 1,456 beds available in Gurgaon.
The district administration agreed that there is a disparity. “Yes, the data is incompatible if we look at the two portals. The GC3 portal has a more accurate and clearer picture, as our team updates it several times in a day,” Gurgaon deputy commissioner Yash Garg said. He stressed that people should follow the GC3 portal for a better understanding of the hospital bed status.
Asked why there are two portals on bed availability and the data is inconsistent, GMDA chief Sudhir Rajpal said HRheal is a state-wide portal and every hospital in the state has been given an ID and password to update the availability of beds in their hospital. “We are not forcing hospitals to update their data everyday, it is voluntary. This is the reason for the disparity,” Rajpal said.