74 out of 82 ICU beds are reserved for coronavirus patients in the Delhi’s seven private hospitals, which are occupied at present. On the other hand, at six government hospitals, only 111 of 348 ICU beds for coronavirus patients are been occupied.

Several news have appeared of severely ill people are been unable to get admitted to ICUs in private hospitals. The total case count in the capital continues to rise with 412 fresh cases been reported on Tuesday, taking the total tally to 14,465.

Total, there are 10 private and 6 government hospitals authorized to treat coronavirus patients in the Delhi. The Indian Express observed data from 7 private hospitals — Sir Ganga Ram’s Kolmet and City hospitals (15 of 20 ICU beds were occupied), Indraprastha Apollo (all 9 were occupied), Max Smart Super Speciality Saket (29 of 32 beds were occupied), Fortis Shalimar Bagh (all 3 beds were occupied), Batra (all 10 beds occupied) and Maha Durga Charitable Trust (all 8 beds were occupied). Data from 3 other hospitals — Cygnus Orthocare, Saroj Medical Institute and Khushi hospital — wasn’t made available by the government.

The Delhi government has also asked 117 nursing homes and private hospitals to keep aside 20% of their present strength for coronavirus patients.

As per the Delhi government, there are 7,223 active COVID-19 cases in the city, out of them 2,092 are taking treatment in 13 COVID-designated (7 private and 6 government) hospitals whereas the remaining patients are either at COVID health centres, care centres or kept under home isolation. Those who are admitted in hospitals, almost 185 patients are admitted in the ICU and 27 patients are on ventilator support. Until now, 288 people have succumbed to the coronavirus disease.

In the Delhi government-run Lok Nayak hospital, a biggest medical facility with 2,000 beds for COVID-19 patients, there are almost 64 beds in the ICU. Out of them, 23 beds were occupied till Tuesday evening. The hospital has 125 ventilators, and the government is planning to add more machines.

In a meeting with the Lieutenant Governor, Health Secretary Padmini Singla informed that there are 4,462 beds across all Delhi’s hospitals. The LG also informed that there are 429 ICU beds, 343 ventilators and 2,632 oxygen supported beds available in the coronavirus-designated hospitals.

At the Jhajjar and Delhi trauma centre facilities of AIIMS, 555 patients are admitted out of which 550 are confirmed and 5 reports are awaited. Dr D K Sharma, medical superintendent of AIIMS said that there are 17 patients in the ICU and many are on oxygen support. Most of them do not require to be shifted to a ventilator.

The health department has ordered 30,000 PPE kits, 3.5 lakh N95 masks, 28 ventilators and 435 oxygen concentrators to meet the demand in the upcoming days.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said while addressing a virtual press conference on Monday, that out of the total 3,829 beds in government hospitals, 3,164 have oxygen support. They are focusing more on oxygen beds as serious patients require respiratory support and it is essential to maintain oxygen levels in their body. Almost 250 ventilators in government hospitals are available and only 11 are in use as of now. 72 ventilators are in the private hospitals and 15 of them are occupied.

Source: The Indian Express