Gurugram district admin takes into account poor public healthcare facilities

gurugram: As the new cases of COVID-19 continue to increase, the Gurugram district administration officially took over the control of six private hospitals on Thursday. The move was directed to increase the bed capacity for the patients infected by the deadly virus.

This decision has resulted in the addition of 600 beds for the Gurugram administration to deal with the challenge of COVID-19 pandemic. The names of these private hospitals are Metro, Narayana, Signature, Columbia Asia, Park and Prateeksha. Each hospital will contribute over 100 beds.

The move by the district administration has once again brought to light the poor public healthcare facilities in Gurugram.

The public officials have officially conceded that they took over the private hospitals as they could not make the second COVID-19 dedicated hospital function in Manesar.

Meanwhile, complaints and grievances of patients and health workers arising from ESIC hospital at Sector 9-A, which is Gurugram's only dedicated COVID-19 hospital, continue to be a cause of concerns for health officials. Even though it was planned to meet the capacity of 250 patients, the hospitals has inadequate bed capacity for 200 patients. At present, the vendors from Khandsa vegetable market and health workers that contribute to 40 per cent of Gurugram's COVID-19 cases are getting treated at the Sector 9-A public hospital.

The hospital also does not have the fire clearance certificate and proper sewage facilities.

With the hospital not having an in-built sewage network, residents residing around the hospital had written to the District Commissioner regarding relocation of the hospital.

"The ESIC hospital does not have its own sewage network. There is a fear that it will cause further health hazards as faulty water and sewer lines will forbid waste generating from COVID-19 patients from being properly discharged, said the letter.

Sources in the public hospital highlight that the health officials have expressed displeasure during inspection of facilities at the Gurugram COVID-19 hospital.

"We have taken note of the complaints that residents, patients and health workers have complained about the hospital. With the cases rising, we are looking to increase the capacity for COVID-19 patients. In this, we are also going to take help from private hospitals," said a senior official from Gurugram Health Department.