City to get more oxygen beds for Covid-19

Arvind Kejriwal also said hospitals must have multiple assistance numbers with a nodal officer for each number to make sure that no distress call is missed or turned down, said the government in a press statement.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, after a review meeting on Friday, directed officials to add more Covid-19 beds with oxygen supply, ensure real-time updates on the availability of beds on the Delhi Corona portal, and scale up tele-consultancy and patient care services for those in home isolation.

The announcement came after a review meeting. (PTI)

The chief minister also said hospitals must have multiple assistance numbers with a nodal officer for each number to make sure that no distress call is missed or turned down, said the government in a press statement.

The statement came after Kejriwal chaired a review meeting on the Covid-19 situation and health care infrastructure in the city with state health minister Satyendar Jain and senior government officials at the Delhi secretariat earlier in the day.

“Several steps taken by the Delhi government to improve the health infrastructure of Delhi were discussed, along with increasing the bed capacity and several other infrastructure requirements in Delhi. CM Arvind Kejriwal directed officials to create more Covid facilities and to increase the strength of oxygen beds across Delhi. He also directed officials to update real-time availability of beds on the Delhi Corona app and ensure that the information on the number of beds is exact,” the statement read.

As on 6pm Friday, hospitals across the national capital had 16,483 Covid-19 beds, of which 12,211 were occupied, according to the government app.

Worryingly, however, 3,545 of the 3,989 ICU beds reserved for Covid-19 patients were occupied, showed the app.

The government statement also read, “He (the CM) said there should be multiple assistance numbers for each hospital and nodal persons should be appointed for all helpline numbers... He also said the health teams must reach out to every patient in home isolation and provide oximeters; the general public should receive every assistance while in home isolation.”

“The focus of the Delhi government is on increasing bed capacity, which will ensure adequate treatment for people who need urgent assistance. In the meeting, bed management was discussed in detail,” said the statement.

The directions came amid a large number of complaints from the public that hospitals were refusing beds to patients even though the government’s mobile app showed that there were vacant beds in those hospitals.

The chief minister asked officials to ensure that hospital helpline numbers, which are also mentioned on the Delhi Corona app, should be operational.