Odisha: Reserves 50% beds of private hospitals in 5 cities for Covid

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Monday made it mandatory for private hospitals in five cities—Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur—to reserve 50% of their general beds and 80% ICU for Covid patients.
Justifying the government move, additional chief secretary (health) (ACS-health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said further availability of beds is needed at this stage of pandemic.“Though the government has created free facility for Covid care, the move will give an option to those who are willing and can afford to pay. This will reduce load on government-run facilities,” he said on a day the state witnessed its highest one-day spike of 4198 positive cases.
Allaying apprehension of non-Covid patients suffering due to the move, he said many patients seeking treatment for other ailments are testing positive. This move would help them as well.
All private hospitals having bed strength of at least 30 in these five cities have to reserve the beds as stipulated or convert the entire hospital into a Covid hospital, a government notification said. “The directives shall be implemented with immediate effect,” the health department said.
Sources said the government hopes to make at least another 2000 hospital beds and 500 ICU beds available for Covid care. Currently, the government has been offering free treatment in 50 Covid hospitals, which have around 7300 general beds and 710 ICU beds.
Private hospitals welcomed the move. “Considering the need of the hour, and the increased number of Covid cases requiring critical care, it is a step in the right direction. We would be happy to provide additional beds for treatment of Covid patients in line with the government advisory,” said Sudhir M Diggkar, chief executive officer of Apollo Hospitals Bhubaneswar.
On August 28, the government had made it compulsory for all private hospitals with at least 30 beds to reserve 10% beds for Covid patients. The move was inadequate since the hospitals ended up admitting their in-house patients—their staff members who turned positive—in these beds.
As reported earlier, the government has capped the hospital charges. For general beds, hospitals accredited by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) can charge Rs 3000 per bed per day while those not accredited can charge maximum Rs 1200. All hospitals can charge Rs 1750 per day for consumables. For ICUs, NABH hospitals can charge Rs 17000 per day and non-NABH hospitals 10,000. For ICU with ventilators, the NABH hospitals can charge maximum 18000 per day while non-NABH can charge 12,000.
In another development relating to Covid infrastructure, the health department asked the district administrations to close down Covid care centres, the free facility for asymptomatic and mild symptom patients as these were largely vacant. Since asymptomatic and mild symptom patients are now staying in home isolation, there is no need for Covid care centres. The ACS-Health wrote to the district collectors to deploy manpower used in Covid care centres at places where they can be utilised better.