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Cong demands 70% beds be reserved for Covid patients, asks NHRC to intervene
New Delhi: Senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken on Tuesday moved the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking directions to the Delhi government and Centre
New Delhi: Senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken on Tuesday moved the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking directions to the Delhi government and Centre to ensure that 70% of all available beds in city hospitals be reserved for Covid-19 patients.
Maken alleged that even though the number of cases was rising in the national capital every day, only 8% of the total 57,194 available hospital beds in Delhi were being utilised for Covid-19 patients.
Making a representation before the NHRC, Maken said people are “running from hospital to hospital for admission”, but are being turned away due to a “shortage of beds”. He said Delhi has robust healthcare infrastructure, with over 57,000 beds as well as central government hospitals to share the patient load.
“It is extremely painful to see that only 12% of Delhi government hospital beds, 8% beds in central government institutions and 7% of private hospital beds are currently occupied and used to treat Covid patients. Moreover, in the case of Delhi government hospitals, around 70% of dedicated beds are vacant,” the former union minister said.
He also claimed that the state government was not testing “as aggressively as it should”. His representation stated that 3,700 tests were conducted on Monday, as per the day’s government health bulletin, much less than the 7,649 tests conducted on May 29, and the lowest since May 15.
“Despite the fact that Delhi’s recovery rate is among the lowest in the country, on June 4, eight labs were given notices to close for ‘over-testing’ by the government. These eight labs were testing about 4,000 patients per day. This means that we are now testing at least 4,000 fewer patients,” Maken said.
Other recommendations included ways to expedite cremations, the introduction of norms to test suspects after their death, and strict inclusion of areas under containment zones based on the number of cases.
