Stop all ops for 15 days from April 21: State tells pvt hosps

KOLKATA: In the wake of the rising number of Covid cases, the State government on Monday issued advisories to all the private hospitals giving a detailed outline as to what steps they have to follow to combat the situation.

In one advisory, the private hospitals have been directed to stop all the planned surgeries for 15 days from April 21. This step would be taken as a precautionary measure to handle the ongoing crisis.

In the second advisory, the private hospitals have been urged to strengthen their redressal mechanism so that they can address the public grievances.

All the private hospitals have been asked to increase the number of beds by 25-30 percent than the number it had in the last year during the peak time of infection.

Various private hospitals have already started the process of increasing beds. It may be mentioned here that the government hospitals were earlier asked to increase beds by 20 percent.West Bengal Clinical Establishments Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) that monitors the private hospital officially issued the advisories.

The private hospitals were also asked to ensure that people do not come to the Commission with any issues including refusal.

If the private hospitals face any problems they can consult with the Commission. The grievance redressal system of the hospital will take care of billing issues. No private hospitals can deny treatment to the patients. WBCERC chairperson Justice (Retired) Ashim Kumar Banerjee and the Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay held a meeting with the private hospitals through video conferencing.

All the private hospitals have also been advised to shift their OPDs to any temporary set up outside or in banquet halls.

All the big private hospitals would also set up satellite centers at nearby hotels where the patients can be treated. Hotels would also put up beds for Covid infected patients. The private hospitals have also been urged to shift the vaccination centers.