Karnataka directs private hospitals to allocate 80% beds for government-referred COVID patients
Waking up to the acute scarcity of beds following a steep rise in circumstances, the State Government has now directed private hospitals and medical faculty hospitals to share 80% of beds of their services to the federal government for COVID-19.
So far, private hospitals had been requested to allocate 50 % of beds together with ICU beds for authorities referred COVID patients.
Announcing this, Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday stated that is below the State Disaster Management Act. “The private hospitals should make available the 80% beds within two-three days. The rates fixed by Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) for government referred patients will continue to be applicable,” he stated.
Besides, all 13 medical faculties (each authorities and private) in Bengaluru ought to henceforth solely deal with emergencies. “Except beds that are dedicated for dialysis, mother and child care and other life threatening diseases, all other beds in these medical colleges will have to be dedicated for COVID patients. This means that over 7,500 beds will be immediately available for COVID treatment only in medical colleges in Bengaluru,” he advised reporters.
Reiterating that every one nursing properties and hospitals with up to and fewer than 30 beds ought to mandatorily deal with non-COVID patients, the Minister stated the remainder (hospitals with 30 beds and above) will mandatorily have to comply with the brand new rule. “The 80% should include all beds (general, oxygenated, ICU and ICU with ventilator),” he asserted.
“This is an unprecedented medical emergency and private hospitals need to recognise this and work with the government,” he stated.
Citing the instance of former Minister M B Patil, who has introduced that COVID patients might be handled at one-fourth the price fastened by SAST in his BLDE Medical College in Vijayapura, the Minister appealed to all hospital and medical faculty homeowners to cooperate with the federal government.
2,000 ICU beds
The Minister stated Bengaluru will quickly get eight makeshift ICUs in eight zones of BBMP. This will add 2,000 ICU beds to town’s well being infrastructure.
“The modular ICUs will come up within 15 days across eight zones. Each ICU will have 200 beds but arranging manpower will be a huge challenge. We are working towards that,” he added.