Pune municipal corporation may let hotels take in patients

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation is considering a proposal that allows hotels near hospitals to house people who are asymptomatic.

Officials said move will clear up more beds for those with serious illness.
But this will not mean a blanket permission for all such hotels to open, officials said. Permissions will only be given to certain cases.
“The managements the hotels and the hospitals should be on the same page here.A hospital can shift its asymptomatic patients to a hotel that's adjacent to its building,” municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad told TOI on Thursday.
Officials said the patients will have to pay the room charges at these hotels, which have also been allowed to provide medical facilities along with doctors.
“Both the hospital and hotel managements should work out the modalities for this tie-up. Vacant hotel infrastructure can indeed be used for the treatment of asymptomatic patients,” the civic commissioner said.
The state government had given hotels with lodging the green signal to resume operations. But the PMC said it has decided to wait and watch.
Gaikwad added that the civic body has secured 900 more beds in the last couple of days.
But the proposal to move patients into hotels may face objections. “Hotels are not geared up for something like this,” a source from the Poona Hoteliers' Association (PHA) said.
“Hotels are already quarantine units for Vande Bharat Mission guests. It might be risky to have asymptomatic patients in the same premises. Also, many hotel staff have gone back to their hometowns. And those who stayed back are for basic activities like room service and reception area management. Staff may refuse to turn up because of the asymptomatic patients,” the source said.