Delhi hospitals told to free one-third Covid beds for dengue, malaria patients

Delhi currently has 9,890 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients across hospitals, of which 9,729 were vacant on Sunday noon

The Delhi government has directed the city hospitals to ensure that one-third of beds currently reserved for Covid-19 patients are used for patients of dengue, malaria and chikungunya, health minister Satyendar Jain said on Sunday.

A New Delhi Municipal Council worker fumigates an area near Lodhi Colony in New Delhi on October 28. (HT Archive)

Delhi currently has 9,890 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients across hospitals, of which 9,729 were vacant on Sunday noon. The directions would essentially lead to around 3,250 beds reserved for dengue, malaria and chikungunya patients, said senior officials in the health department.

“The government has directed its hospitals to use one-third of the reserved Covid beds for treatment of dengue, malaria, chikungunya patients. This decision has been taken in the view of declining cases of Corona and the rise in the cases of dengue, malaria, and chikungunya in Delhi,” said Jain in a press statement.

He further said, “There will be sufficient number of beds in the hospitals to fight dengue. All necessary preparations made to combat dengue in all Delhi government hospitals.”

On October 14, the Delhi government made vector-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, and chikungunya as notifiable diseases under the Epidemic Diseases Act, making it mandatory for all hospitals and healthcare institutions to report any case that they receive to the government, according to a notification issued mid-October but being implemented from this week.

So far, at least 1,006 dengue cases and one death of the disease has been reported. However, officials confirmed that so far six deaths that have been investigated by the death audit committee, which will be added to the toll.

Hindustan Times reported on October 25 that doctors reported more than a 60 per cent surge in the number of dengue cases over the past month and said that due to this increase, the number of beds is filling up rapidly.

A shortage of beds has already been reported in Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.