AIIMS to take over two Delhi govt hospitals to resolve bed shortage problem

Internal data from AIIMS shows that the hospital receives an average of 866 emergency patients daily. However, only 50 (5.7%) are admitted to AIIMS every day

New Delhi: Taking a step towards developing a formal medical referral system between hospitals in the national capital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be taking over two hospitals — the Delhi government’s Indira Gandhi Hospital, and the New Delhi Municipal Council’s Charak Palika Hospital —from next month in order to solve the problem of bed shortages in the apex institution.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (File Photo)

The objective behind the move is to optimally utilise the vacant beds in other government hospitals where critical but stable patients from AIIMS, which is reeling under acute shortage of beds, could be referred for treatment, officials aware of the matter said.

Internal data from AIIMS shows that the hospital receives an average of 866 emergency patients daily. However, only 50 (5.7%) are admitted to AIIMS every day.

“While this is the situation at AIIMS, it is observed that several beds in other government hospitals remain vacant. To improve this disparity of resources, many such patients from AIIMS can be admitted to these hospitals,” a senior AIIMS official, on condition of anonymity, said.

The official said that AIIMS will manage Indira Gandhi Hospital and Charak Palika Hospital by providing expertise and critical infrastructure. There will also be an option for non-critical patients from AIIMS to be shifted to these ancillary centres in case of shortage of beds, the official said.

“Gradually, other government hospitals and healthcare centres will be roped in and developed as ‘partner institutions’ of AIIMS to cater to the local population in different localities of Delhi. The aim is to develop super specialty hospitals in different localities of the Capital so that the burden on AIIMS can be reduced, and simultaneously, people across the city can access healthcare near their homes at par with what they would have got at AIIMS,” the official said.

In October 2022, AIIMS director Dr M Sriniwas met the heads of 20 government hospitals to discuss the possibility of a common referral system to help ease crowds at hospitals and to improve patient care. Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Indira Gandhi Hospital and Lok Nayak Hospital were among the hospitals that had participated in the meeting.

Following initial rounds of discussion, lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Friday chaired a meeting to evolve a formal system for the referral of patients between AIIMS and other government hospitals in Delhi. At the meet, LG Saxena directed the state health department to carry out a gap analysis of available beds in all its major hospitals within a week.