Bengaluru hospital to ramp up bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients

The hospital management also agreed to the deputy chief minister’s request to increase the number of ventilators from the five to 25 and add a minimum of 50 to 100 Intensive Care Unit beds to the existing 50, according to a statement.

A city based hospital on Saturday said it would ramp up bed capacity from 340 to 500 in two weeks to treat Covid-19 patients as steps towards tackling the increasing number of cases reported in Bengaluru.

Preparations being done at the 450-bed Burari Hospital for Covid-19 patients ahead of its inauguration in New Delhi on Saturday. (Ajay Aggarwal /HT Photo)

The MS Ramaiah Hospital took the decision after a meeting with deputy chief minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, who visited the hospital.

He also held discussions with the college staff, Covid wards through CCTV and expressed satisfaction about the facilities, a hospital press release said.

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Dr Narayan said the hospital’s gesture to voluntarily treat Covid-19 patients and offer additional beds asked was laudable, at a time when many private hospitals were thinking twice about offering 50 per cent of the beds to the government, despite repeated requests.

The hospital management also agreed to the minister’s request to increase the number of ventilators from the five to 25 and add a minimum of 50 to 100 Intensive Care Unit beds to the existing 50, the release said.

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The hospital said that in spite of taking necessary precautions, around 10 per cent of the staff are getting infected with Coronavirus while treating patients, despite which they were treating them with perseverance In the present situation, the hospital was facing shortage of doctors and paramedical staff, the release said.

The management also assured support to the deputy chief ministers request to provide doctors and paramedical staff to the government run K C General Hospital.