Delhi govt instructs private hospitals: Reserve 80 pc ICU beds for COVID patients

Due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the Delhi government on Sunday directed all nursing homes and private hospitals having bed strength of 50 beds or more to reserve at least 80 per cent of their total ICU bed strength for the treatment of COVID-19 patients with immediate effect.

"In the recent past there has been a surge in the number of COVID cases and it has been observed that majority of the ICU beds in private hospitals are fully occupied. Therefore, in order to augment the ICU bed capacity for COVID-19 patients the hospitals listed in Annexure 'A' are directed to reserve 80 per cent of their total ICU/HDU beds for such patients i.e. COVID-19 patients with immediate effect," the notification by the Delhi government read.

It further stated that if in some hospitals non-COVID patients are already admitted in more than 20 per cent of their ICU/HDU beds then in such cases, once these non-COVID-19 are discharged, "the vacant ICU/HDU beds shall thereafter be kept reserved for COVID-19 patients only."

According to the Union Health Ministry, Delhi at present has as many as 28059 active cases of COVID-19. So far, 181295 have been cured and 4,715 have died after contracting the virus.

India's COVID-19 recovered patients have seen a "steep exponential rise" from 50,000 patients in May to over 36 lakh patients in September which is "nearly" 3.8 times the active cases, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

"India's COVID-19 recoveries have witnessed a steep exponential rise - from 50,000 in May to over 36 lakhs in September. A high level of more than 70,000 recoveries reported every day. Recoveries are nearly 3.8 times the Active Cases (under 1/4 total cases)," Union Health Ministry tweeted. 

-ANI

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