Bed occupancy rising, Delhi govt orders nine hosps to set up more
New Delhi: Even as Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday insisted that there were enough hospital beds available in Delhi for the increasing number of Covid-19 patients, data from the Delhi government showed that hospitalisations are now increasing faster than they were just a week ago with the number of ventilators occupied tripling in just two days.
According to the data, the number of Covid patients in city hospitals increased by 107 per cent in just two days — from 342 on Monday to 708 on Wednesday. There are 22 severe patients in hospitals compared to seven on Monday.
At present, 551 patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not require oxygen, the data from the health bulletin stated.
However, while this data is outdated by 24 hours, the Delhi Corona mobile application showed that by Wednesday 11 pm, 65 ICU ventilator beds were occupied, 187 ICU beds were occupied and 921 oxygen beds were taken.
But taking note of the rising hospitalisations, the Delhi government on Wednesday evening directed nine hospitals to increase their cumulative Covid bed capacity to 4,350 from the existing 3,316. The Health and Family Welfare Department of the Delhi government issued the order. The hospitals it addressed to are India Gandhi Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Burari Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Ambedkar Nagar Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Jain said, "In Delhi's hospitals, there are plenty of beds available. For example, GTB hospital has 650 beds set aside for Covid patients, of which only 20 are occupied." The Department of Health said that the occupancy rate currently is between 2 per cent and 5 per cent compared to
15 per cent during the Delta wave last year.
The Delhi government said it is constantly disseminating information about home isolation. "Out of the 418 beds made available to patients yesterday, 308 were not in need of any additional medical assistance, indicating mild symptoms," their statement added.
Moreover, in light of the unprecedented surge in cases here, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority got into a firefighting mode, cancelling the leaves of all of the Delhi government's officers, officials and staffers, directing them not to leave the city in such a situation.
"It is anticipated that the containment of the pandemic will involve a huge mobilisation of human resources at various levels in the city government," according to the order, which has now allowed only medical leave.
In addition to this, the Transport Department here cancelled all driving tests and has deployed nodal officers to prevent crowding in city buses even as the authorities allowed 100 per cent seating capacity.
