Reality check: BBMP still struggling to get Covid beds from hospitals
Bengaluru private hospitals not giving 50% Covid beds will be prosecuted: Ashoka
BENGALURU:
Nearly 45 days after the deadlier second wave of the coronavirus broke out in the state, the Karnataka government and BBMP are still struggling to obtain the mandated 50% Covid beds from private hospitals. Now, the government has directed BBMP to conduct a reality check with the help of the police on the availability of beds in private hospitals.
The directions came from Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Revenue Minister R Ashoka, who is also state disaster management committee vice-chairman, at a virtual meeting on Tuesday to review the bed allotment compliance of private hospitals in Bengaluru.
Ashoka said, “All hospitals in the BBMP limits, including those with 20-30 beds and those with over 100 beds, should be inspected and 50% of the beds immediately requisitioned. All private hospitals in the city should be inspected immediately to make sure more beds are available for Covid-infected patients.”
According to the Minister, the joint team of BBMP officials and police will have to inspect private hospitals and medical colleges. If the requisite number of beds is not provided, legal action should be taken under the Disaster Management Act, he said.
Step-down hospital beds
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai also called for legal action against hospitals that are providing false information and not reserving beds for Covid patients. He said step-down hospitals should be increased in collaboration with private hospitals. Step-down hospitals currently have 960 beds, he noted, and instructed the officials to increase the number to at least 5,000 beds.
BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said notices have been issued to a few hospitals in the city for not reserving beds for BBMP-referred patients. IAS and IPS officers have been appointed as nodal officers for hospitals with over 100 beds. Likewise, in-charge officials must be appointed for smaller hospitals in each zone. He felt several more beds would be available following a thorough inspection by the nodal officers.
Principal Secretary (Revenue) N Manjunatha Prasad said 9 teams led by IAS and IPS officers have been deployed with regard to bed allocation in private hospitals. Nodal officers and police officers have been appointed to 50 major hospitals in the city. Aptamitra staff from Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust have also been appointed. He said the officers must work in tandem to make sure private hospitals are reserving 50% beds and private medical college hospitals are reserving 75% for Covid-19 patients.
Bed allotment committee in-charge, IAS officer Tushar Girinath, nodal officers of hospitals and other officials were present.
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