Zero ICU beds available in Delhi private hospitals as coronavirus cases continue to surge

Even as Delhi is witnessing a steep rise in the number of novel coronavirus cases, almost all ICU beds in most of the private hospitals in the national capital are now occupied. Only severely-ill patients need Covid ICU beds.

According to doctors, there is an increase of 4 per cent of patients admitted to ICU in the past 10 days.

Badrinath (77), a resident of Delhi, had tested positive for coronavirus. After his oxygen levels dropped below 80, his family ran from one private hospital to another to find an ICU bed. They finally found an ICU bed at Delhi government's Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital.

Badrinath's granddaughter Sonali Bhiyani said: "We took him to Max Hospital and Sir Gangaram in a car, but did not get the bed. His condition worsened. After a lot of recommendations, he was finally allocated a bed in Rajiv Gandhi Super speciality hospital."

According to the Delhi Corona App, ICU beds are not available in most of the private hospitals in Delhi.

There are a total of 1,264 ICU Beds with ventilators. Out of these, 500 are available and around 764 are occupied.

Screenshot from the Delhi corona app.

Delhi has been consistently reporting more than 4,000 cases every day over the past week. On Saturday, the coronavirus tally in Delhi crossed the 2-lakh mark at 2,42,899. According to doctors, there is an increase of 4 per cent of patients admitted to ICU in the past 10 days.

Since there are no ICU beds in private hospitals, the burden now has come on to the government hospitals. Out of the total beds available in Delhi government hospitals, 14,996 about 7,043 are occupied.

Dr Ajit Jain, Nodal Officer, Rajiv Gandhi Hospital, said: "ICU beds were vacant 15 days ago, but now it is not the case anymore. We are trying to increase the number of beds as there is an added pressure on the Delhi government hospitals again."

Besides Delhiites, patients from neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan have also been coming to the national capital to seek treatment for severe Covid 19 symptoms. This is leading to a shortage of beds for coronavirus patients from within the state.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said that while private hospitals may lack ICU beds now, the Delhi government is trying to increase them.

As per the Delhi government's data, from August 5 to August 28, about 541 patients were admitted to Delhi hospitals. Of these, 218 patients belonged to Delhi, while 323 were from outside Delhi.