Covid beds: BBMP show-cause to Fortis, Vikram, Aster CMI, Columbia Asia, Baptist hospitals
Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta does recce, finds hospitals have not provided mandated beds for Covid patients
BENGALURU:
BBMP Chief Commissioner cracked the whip against errant private hospitals for failing to allot the agreed-upon number of beds for Covid-19 patients. On his inspection of the hospitals concerned on Sunday, Gupta was accompanied by Yelahanka zone’s Zonal Commissioner D Randeep and Chief Health Officer Dr BK Vijendra.
The Chief Commissioner has issued show-cause notices to two major hospitals — Fortis on Cunningham Road and Vikram Hospital — as both hospitals failed to provide the number of beds demanded by the civic agency for needy covid-19 patients.
Legal action
Gupta’s crackdown follows a tip-off and numerous complaints, and the show-cause asks the hospitals why action should not be initiated against them under the NDM Act for failing to comply with government orders.
It was an eye-opener for the Chief Commissioner when he saw that Vikram Hospital had not provided the mandated 39 beds for BBMP-referred Covid patients, and that Fortis Hospital had allotted only 5 out of the 30 mandated beds.
Gupta also inspected Aster CMI, Columbia Asia, Baptist hospitals and issued similar show cause notices to the hospital management for failing to comply with government orders.
Bengaluru has been witnessing a huge surge in coronavirus-positive cases in the last couple of days. The city has seen more than 12,793 Covid-19 positive cases, which has taken the positivity rate to 8.66% as of Sunday.
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