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NEW DELHI: After the 10 multi-disciplinary teams appointed by the home ministry to assess bed utilisation and identity extra ICU beds at 100 private hospitals in Delhi submitted their reports, the home ministry has asked the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh government to conduct a similar survey of private hospitals in their respective NCR districts. Meanwhile, in line with the directives issued by home minister Amit Shah after a review of the Delhi Covid situation on Sunday, the number of ICU beds in the national Capital has gone up by 150 and 500 isolation beds at the 10,000 Covid care centre in Chhattarpur converted into ‘oxygen beds’.
A home ministry spokesperson on Thursday said 75 doctors and 251 paramedics from the Central armed police forces (CAPF) have already reported for duty in Delhi, of which 50 doctors and 175 paramedics were deployed at the Chhattarpur and Shakur Basti Covid care centres.
The Delhi government has been asked to refer the patients who need critical care to these facilities.
A total 500 isolation beds at the COVID care centre at Chhatarpur will be converted into beds with oxygen facility and these beds will be ready by the weekend, the home ministry spokesperson said.
As many as 150 ICU beds have been added in the capital in the last three days. In addition, the current capacity of 3,652 ICU beds in Delhi will be further ramped up.
More than 28,708 RT-PCR tests were conducted in the city on Wednesday and the number will be increased to 60,000 by the end of November, the ministry said.
Train coaches with 800 beds at the Shakur Basti railway station will become functional and the doctors and paramedics from the paramilitary forces will man these coaches, it added.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Union health ministry is considering reports of the 10 multi-disciplinary teams of the home ministry regarding the bed utilisation, testing capacity and identification of extra ICU beds, based on their visits to 100 private hospitals in Delhi.
The above actions are a follow up of 12 decisions announced by Shah after chairing a high-level meeting on Sunday in view of the spike in Covid cases in Delhi.
Delhi has seen a spurt in coronavirus cases since October 28, with the number breaching the 8,000-mark on November 11.
Delhi recorded 7,546 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday.
