Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, 6 June, addressed the media on Delhi’s efforts against COVID-19, saying that private hospitals denying admission to COVID patients and demanding money for allotting beds would not be spared.
Speaking about two instances where private hospitals had been found refusing admission to patients suffering from COVID-19 and then charging high amounts to allow them admission, Kejriwal called it black-marketeering and said that it would be curbed.
‘No Negotiation on Treating Coronavirus Patients’
Kejriwal also said that the app launched by the Delhi government on Tuesday, which would keep citizens informed about the number of beds available in each hospital caring for coronavirus cases, had been met with uproar despite the fact that it was a move towards transparency.
He added that a ‘mafia’ of sorts had been created with regard to some hospitals amid the pandemic and that this required some time to break.
Speaking about some private hospitals in Delhi which he said had become very powerful and were refusing to admit COVID-19 patients under the influence of their protectors from different parties, Kejriwal sternly issued a warning to them, saying that they had been allowed to set up in Delhi to care for patients and not to make money and that they would have to admit patients.
“We are telling them that they have to take care of coronavirus patients. If they have any other problems they can tell us. But there will be no negotiation on treating coronavirus patients. They have to reserve 20 percent of their beds for coronavirus patients,” Kejriwal said, adding that officers were holding discussions with hospitals over this.
Treatment of Delhi’s coronavirus patients is non-negotiable, Kejriwal stated.
‘Can’t Turn Away Suspected COVID Cases’
Kejriwal also said that on Tuesday, when the app had been launched, there had been 2,800 coronavirus patients in hospitals in Delhi, mainly private ones.
Since then, according to Kejriwal, the number has shot up to 3,900, with 1,100 more patients having been admitted, mainly in private hospitals, largely due to the app which had created transparency and given people information.
He also requested some time to ensure that hospitals do not refuse patients and said that there was a plan in progress where a medical professional of the Delhi government would be present at the reception of private hospitals in Delhi, conveying information about beds and ventilators available at that establishment to the government. This would also ensure an end to false refusals by any hospitals, Kejriwal added.
Kejriwal also said that the Delhi government would be passing an order on Saturday which would require hospitals to test all suspected coronavirus cases that came to them and then take action as required, instead of turning them away and asking them to return with a positive test, as was being done by some hospitals.
There are 42 labs testing for COVID-19 in Delhi, he said, saying that testing had not been stopped and that only six labs had been found violating orders. There are still 36 labs doing tests, Kejriwal stated, adding that there were also 17 Delhi government labs among these.
However, he requested asymptomatic people to not rush to get themselves tested, saying that though Delhi was capable of undertaking a huge number of tests per day, the capacity of testing labs would falter under pressure from asymptomatic people.
“There is no problem of testing. There could be some teething problems but we have kept an eye out and will fix this too,” Kejriwal further added.
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