4 hospitals with 3,500 beds in Delhi to give free COVID treatment

New Delhi: Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH) along with G.B. Pant Hospital (GBPH), Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH) and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in the national capital have been asked to keep aside 3,500 beds for free COVID-19 treatment for the positive cases.

In a meeting, the Delhi Health Department also directed the private hospitals to be prepared for being declared the COVID-19 dedicated hospital, if the cases increase.

The meeting, convened by the Delhi Health Minister, was to review the preparations to fight coronavirus.

Private hospitals — Sir Ganga Ram, Indraprastha Apollo, Batra, Maharaja Agrasen, Fortis SS, Manipal and Venkateshwar — were asked to be ready for being declared as COVID-dedicated hospitals.

“It was informed that the Delhi government is buying one lakh ‘rapid test kits’ for coronavirus which could give instant results and it was decided to share the same with private hospitals,” according to the minutes of the meeting.

It was also decided that around 3,500 beds would be made available in “LNH+GBPH, RGSSH and GTBH together, where patients could get free treatment of COVID-19.”

Also, it says 42 beds at Gangaram Kolmat Hospital, 50 beds at Apollo Hospital and 36 beds at Max Devkidevi Hospital will be providing paid facilities for COVID-19 patients.

The hospitals were also asked to train the staff for dealing with the virus, in case the hospital was decaled COVID-19 dedicated.

So far, 550 coronavirus cases have been reported in Delhi with a total of nine deaths.

On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also announced a ‘5T plan’ for Delhi to tackle COVID-19 cases. The 5T plan includes — Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Team Work and Tracking and monitoring. He said the government will conduct one lakh random coronavirus tests in Delhi’s hotspots.

IANS