Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday warned hospitals of serious action in case they deny treatment to any Covid positive patient and said soon a system will be developed to help patients locate the hospitals for treatment.
About surge in cases, he said there have been 3,500 new coronavirus cases and 2,500 recoveries in the last one week since the lockdown relaxations were announced.
Kejriwal said no hospital can deny treatment to any patient, warning that they can face serious actions in this case.
"A patient visited a private hospital a few days back because of some breathing issues, and his test was conducted two days later. When the results came out to be positive, he was denied treatment in the same private hospital because he was found to be corona positive. Where will the patient go? No hospital can deny treatment to any patient," he said.
Kejriwal said a show cause notice has been issued to the private hospital.
"It is the responsibility of the hospital that if any patient is found to be positive, the hospital ambulance should take the patient to any private and government hospital to ensure that he is being treated," said the CM.
Kejriwal said that a system will be developed to help people locate the hospitals for treatment.
"Even when we have 2,500 vacant beds in government hospitals and 2,000 beds in private hospitals, people face difficulties while trying to locate the hospitals that have beds available with them. We are creating a system through which a serious Covid patient will be able to know which hospital to go to for treatment. This system will be fully developed within 2-3 days."
He also said there has been a surge in cases, but the situation is under control as most of the cases have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.
"Most of the new cases of Covid-19 have mild symptoms such as a mild fever and cough, and many of them are asymptomatic. These cases do not need to be admitted into the hospitals and are advised to follow home isolation. My team stays in regular touch with them and their families for monitoring their symptoms," added the CM.
On the change in the number of cases in the last one week, Kejriwal said that there were 9,755 Covid patients in Delhi on May 17, and there are 13,418 cases till Sunday, which means that there has been a rise of around 3,500 patients in the last week.
"Around 2,500 patients have also recovered in the last week, which is a positive development for Delhi. Similarly, there were 1,750 patients in the hospitals on May 17, and today there are 2,000 patients in the hospitals, which means that the occupancy of only 250 beds has increased in the last week."
Kejriwal said 3,314 people are being treated through home isolation and around 2,000 people are being treated in the hospitals.
"We are fully prepared to handle the surge in serious cases of coronavirus."
( With inputs from IANS )