The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has requested private hospitals to earmark at least 10% of their beds for Covid-19 patients for the next seven days.
Addressing a virtual gathering of the Covid-19 nodal officers for private hospitals on Wednesday, outgoing BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad requested them to make a representation to the heads of their respective hospitals in this regard.
Covid-19 cases have been steadily rising in the city. On Wednesday alone, Bengaluru reported 2,928 cases and 18 deaths. There are as many as 19,613 active Covid-19 patients in the city.
Prasad, who was transferred out of the BBMP during the day, told the gathering that most of the people diagnosed with Covid-19 in the city were being isolated at home.
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While beds are available in government hospitals for those with symptoms, there is a need to gradually increase the bed capacity in private hospitals in case the infections rise further, he explained.
“Covid-19 cases have been steadily increasing since the end of February. Nearly 3,000 cases have been detected today. Most patients are 22-40 years old. They are more likely to be infected than older people,” he said, adding that the Covid-19 mortality rate in the city was less than 0.5%.
Prasad stated that if any Covid-19 patient is admitted to a hospital, she/he should not be referred to another hospital unless that facility has oxygen.
The full information on how many beds are available for Covid treatment, how many beds are filled and which beds are empty will be readily available soon, he said, in reference to the Covid hospital bed management system dashboard.
"Private hospitals should have separate Covid-19 blocks. Also, there should be separate doctors and staff to treat Covid-19 patients. The same staff should not be deployed to treat Covid-19 and other diseases,” he said.