ICU bed numbers go up in Covid hospitals: Govt

Monday, 06 July 2020 | Staff Reporter | NEW DELHI

ICU bed numbers go up in Covid hospitals: Govt

Monday, 06 July 2020 | Staff Reporter | NEW DELHI

In a bid to ramp up the medical infrastructure in Delhi's fight against Covid-19, Delhi Government has ensured a steady increase in the number of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds in its Covid hospitals.

The number of beds have been increased three fold from 60 to 180 in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, from 45 to 120 in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, and from 31 to 66 in GTB Hospital by July 5 after a sustained push by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and under the daily supervision of Health Minister, the number of ICU beds has increased three fold from 60 to 180 in Lok, a government official said.

Kejriwal had recently said that additional ICU beds would come up at Lok Nayak, Guru Teg Bahadur, and Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty hospitals.

Delhi has reported around 97000 cases so far; of them, 68256 patients have recovered. The recovery rate of Delhi has crossed 70 per cent on July 4, and the number of hospitalized patients has gone down from 6200 to 5300. The number of vacant Covid beds is around 9900, which is nearly 65per cent of total bed capacity in Covid hospitals.

At the same time, the three fold increase in ICU beds in Delhi's three largest state-run Covid hospitals is a timely addition that will further strengthen the city's fight against Covid-19, he added.

The official said that as result of a continued push from the top, the number of beds in LNJP has increased from 60 at the beginning of lockdown to 180 today. The number of ICU beds in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital has increased from 45 to 120 and the number of beds in Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital has increased from 31 to 66.

With an increase in the ICU beds, the fatality rate in Delhi is expected to further reduce due to enhanced capacity to take care of critical patients. Over the last few weeks, the daily number of fatalities due to Covid-19 has gone down substantially from over 120 a day to 55 on July 4.

With the surge in cases in early June, the Kejriwal government left no stone unturned in rapidly enhancing Covid beds as well as ICU beds in Delhi's hospitals. Daily meetings held by the Health Minister and Weekly meetings by the CM with hospitals to review progress and ensure all necessary support was provided played a major role in the timely enhancement of ICU beds in Delhi.