Bengaluru hospitals ramp up Covid bed allocation despite low admissions

Government and private hospitals in Bengaluru are increasing their Covid bed allocations, despite the low number of admissions.

While the state health department has not yet asked private hospitals to allocate beds, they have requested that they be prepared.

Major private chains have already increased their bed allocations since March when cases began to rise.

Dr Yatheesh G, vice-president of Apollo Hospitals, stated that they set aside 10 beds for Covid patients in March.

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"Until the end of February, we had no Covid admissions, so we did not have a separate Covid ward. Since March, we have been admitting around five patients a week," he said.

Dr Chinnadurai R of Aster Hospitals reported that Aster RV and CMI hospitals have each set aside eight and 10 Covid beds, respectively, since March.

"These are not separate Covid wings, but are isolation rooms that are more convenient for both patients and the hospital. We now get only one to two admissions per week."

Brig Dr Mahendra Kar, medical superintendent of BR Ambedkar Medical College, said the hospital had identified 230 beds that could be converted into Covid beds if necessary, but had not received patients yet.

Many smaller hospitals are still waiting for government instructions to set aside beds, given the higher costs associated with dedicated staff for such an area.

Dr Santosh Saklecha, joint director at Santosh Hospitals, stated that they had not yet received any Covid patients who needed to be admitted, but would refer them to other hospitals.

In the public sector, taluk hospitals and district/general hospitals were recently asked to set aside five and 10 beds, respectively, for Covid patients, according to state health commissioner D Randeep.

At CV Raman General Hospital, 10 beds have been set aside for the past two weeks, but there have been no patients, said Medical Superintendent Dr H D Radhakrishna.

Even at Bowring Hospital, which has long been the main public facility for Covid, only two or three out of the 50 allocated beds are occupied at any time, said Director Dr Manoj Kumar. Victoria Hospital's dedicated 50-bed Covid block has no patients as of yet.

However, hospitals remain prepared for any sudden increase in cases.