As cases rise, 2 private hospitals in Patna get nod for Covid-19 treatment

Patna District Magistrate Kumar Ravi has allowed Ruban Hospital and Paras Hospital to set up corona wards with 25 beds each to treat Covid-19 patients, an official statement said.

Two private hospitals in Patna were given the approval on Monday to treat Covid-19 patients amid the rising number of cases in the city.

Disinfectant being sprayed in a residential area at Nala Road in Patna, Bihar, to curb the spread of Covid-19 outbreak. (Santosh Kumar / HT Photo)

Earlier, only government hospitals were allowed to treat Covid-19 cases here.

Patna District Magistrate Kumar Ravi has allowed Ruban Hospital and Paras Hospital to set up corona wards with 25 beds each to treat Covid-19 patients, an official statement said.

Applications have been received from several other private hospitals seeking approval for treating patients and a decision will be taken after proper review and verification, it said.

The corona wards at the two hospitals are likely to start functioning in a day or two, sources said.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is the local MP, had on Sunday urged state health minister Mangal Pandey to allow Covid-19 treatment at private hospitals to ease the pressure on government facilities.

There are four dedicated hospitals in the state for treating Covid-19 patients, including two in Patna.

These are Nalanda Medical College and Hospital and AIIMS in Patna, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Bhagalpur and Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital in Gaya.

The state has so far reported 26,379 cases of Covid-19 and most of them were detected in Patna where 3,696 people have tested positive.

The state has been recording over 1,000 fresh cases every day since July 12 and 12,401 cases were detected in the last 10 days.

Patna has also recorded the highest number of deaths in the state at 28. Total 179 people have died in Bihar so far.

The state has 9,602 active cases at present.