Ghaziabad may rope in two private hospitals for paid Covid treatment

Officials of the district health department on Monday said that they have almost finalised modalities for setting up two paid private Covid hospitals, one each in

Officials of the district health department on Monday said that they have almost finalised modalities for setting up two paid private Covid hospitals, one each in the localities of Vasundhara and Vaishali. The officials said that the two hospitals will provide 160 Covid beds together and will serve the purpose of L1, L2 and L3 category hospitals.

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“We have almost finalised the modalities for these two hospitals. One private hospital in Vasundhara will have 60 Covid beds, while the other facility in Vaishali will have 100 beds for Covid patients. The two hospitals have ventilator facilities and will provide treatment for L1, L2 and L3 category patients, on a paid basis,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer (CMO).

“They will also cater to a large population from trans-Hindon region where we have seen a number of cases emerging from localities of Vaishali, Khoda, Indirapuram and Vasundhara,” he added.

The need for more Covid beds is envisaged after Ghaziabad witnessed a spike in cases in the first week of June. Till June 7, 169 fresh cases were reported in first seven days of the month taking the total number of Covid-19 positive patients to 474.

At present, Ghaziabad district has no private hospitals offering paid Covid treatment and the health department is running one hospital each of L1, L2 and L3 categories to deal with the Covid cases.

The L1, L2 and L3 category healthcare structure is designed by the UP government. The L1 category hospitals are basic hospitals which deal with normal Covid-19 positive patients while the L2 category hospitals deal with patients having moderate symptoms. The L3 hospitals are identified to deal with patients requiring critical care.

When asked about the row over Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s statement that Delhi hospitals are only for local residents, the CMO said, “If any patient from Delhi arrives and shows L1 symptoms, we will ask them to remain in home isolation, as the national capital has allowed home isolation of asymptomatic patients. If they require treatment in L2 or L3 category, we admit them as getting treatment is patient’s right.”

On Sunday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that beds in hospitals functioning under Delhi government and private hospitals – with exception of those providing specialised surgeries in certain fields – will be reserved for people of Delhi till the Covid-19 crisis subsides.

On Monday, Delhi Lieutenant Governer Anil Baijal overruled the decision and said that no patient should be denied treatment for not being a resident of Delhi. Baijal impressed upon the state government that the Supreme Court has held in several judgments that right to health is an integral part of right to life.

Kejriwal’s decision had drawn strong criticism from residents in Ghaziabad, from where hundreds of patients avail treatment in different hospitals of Delhi government.

“It is unfortunate that Delhi CM started his career from Ghaziabad but he chose to ignore the needs of treatment for the local residents here. We are now happy that the L-G of Delhi has overturned his decision,” said VK Mittal, president of Kaushambi apartments RWA.

In the meantime, Anil Agrawal, Rajya Sabha MP from UP and also a resident of Ghaziabad, has written to UP chief minister to dedicate some of the floors of Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan, being developed in Indirapuram, for setting up a healthcare facility.

“I have written to the UP CM to dedicate upper portion of the building for pilgrims while the lower storeys of the building can be converted to a hospital. This will serve purpose for residents of trans-Hindon as we do not have any government hospital there. This will also be helpful for pilgrims as they will be able to get medical treatment there,” he added.

In Ghaziabad, ESIC Hospital in Sahibabad is an L1 category facility where all the 76 beds are fully occupied, while the district hospital at Sanjay Nagar is a L2 category hospital with 100 beds. Another L1 category hospital at Muradnagar has 30 beds, but the facility is currently not operational, health officials said.

Another 400 bedded L3 hospital has also started functioning but according to officials only 18 beds there have ventilator facility.

The district officials have now contacted private hospitals and asked them for proposals for functioning as L1 hospitals.

“Presently we have government facilities for Covid treatment. But we require more beds to deal with the rising number of cases. We have already planned for 4,000 Covid beds, which have been identified and will be reserved for asymptomatic patients. So we have asked for proposal from private hospitals to function as L1 category hospitals. They can also be considered under L2 category if they have proper facilities,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.