Hospital Bed Crisis Looms As Cases Rise

Delhi govt pushes home treatment solution for all non-severe patients, links some hotels with hospitals to increase capacity as infections spike

- Gulam Jeelani

On april 7, when Delhi had only 525 coronavirus cases, CM Arvind Kejriwal said 3,000 beds were available and promised to scale up the number to 30,000.

The breakdown was 8,000 beds in Delhi government as well as private hospitals and the remaining 22,000 in hotels, banquet halls, and rest houses.

More than seven weeks later, on Friday, as Delhi saw the daily Covid-19 cases cross the 1,000-mark for the second consecutive day, taking the total number of infections to 17,387, including 398 deaths, the number of beds in state-run and private hospitals remains 5,100, prompting the AAP government to give a renewed push to its home treatment solution and scout for more beds.

Kejriwal and deputy Manish Sisodia urged people on Friday to opt for home treatment and not to come to hospitals unless they are symptomatic.

Some private hospitals have been wary of taking in COVID patients fearing general ones might get infected, reports said.

In terms of viral overload in cities, Delhi is now second only to Mumbai where infection cases have crossed the 35,000mark.

THE STRATEGIC CHANGE

The government is trying hard to convince people that home treatment can take care of most cases. On Friday, Kejriwal tweeted home isolation guidelines and asserted over 80% of patients have zero or very mild symptoms.