The state health department has instructed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to form a committee of experts who will review and approve private hospitals that are willing to admit suspected coronavirus patients.
“The Central government has constituted several parameters to keep patients suspected of having coronavirus at isolation wards. We have instructed BMC to form a committee of experts working at government-run hospitals and medical colleges. These experts will inspect the isolation rooms and give approval to private hospitals if they want to admit suspected patients,” said Dr Archana Patil, director of the state health department. “People who can afford treatment at private hospitals can be referred to these private hospitals if they demand it. But this process can be started once we have the list of the hospitals.”
When asked about the delay in the process of enlisting private hospitals, Patil said, “We have already issued a circular to them. If any hospital approaches us about the guidelines, we will send it to them.”
Representatives of private hospitals have met officials of the state health department and BMC about the plan to admit patients. “We were sensitised about the requirements, but nothing has been said on record, without which we can’t make any changes or developments. All the instructions need to be provided on paper, rather than through verbal communications,” said the chief executive officer of a private hospital in Andheri.
{{/usCountry}}Representatives of private hospitals have met officials of the state health department and BMC about the plan to admit patients. “We were sensitised about the requirements, but nothing has been said on record, without which we can’t make any changes or developments. All the instructions need to be provided on paper, rather than through verbal communications,” said the chief executive officer of a private hospital in Andheri.
{{/usCountry}}Currently, suspected patients are being taken to the BMC-run Kasturba Hospital. Five such patients are currently under observation at the isolation ward there. On Friday, a relative of a 46-year-old resident from Juhu, who has been kept in the isolation ward at Kasturba Hospital, complained about poor hygiene. “The washrooms are so dirty that any normal person can also get infected,” she said. When asked if they want to shift the patient to a private hospital, she said, “We have asked about it, but apparently, the rules are yet to be concluded so we can’t shift the patient to a private hospital.”