A team of IAS and IPS officers have been appointed by the Karnataka government recently to ensure that 50 per cent private hospital beds are made available for coronavirus patients, amid complaints of treatment denials.
With the rising number of cases as the reason for the step, the state government now wants to ensure that private medical institutions adhere to reservation of beds. A total of 31 private hospitals will now be closely watched by these IAS and IPS officers.
The government order signed by the State's chief secretary TM Vijaya Bhaskar was issued on Sunday. "In order to ensure that the private medical institutions strictly adhere to the reserving of beds, teams of senior officers are constituted," said Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar in the capacity of chairman of state executive committee.
The development came after sufficient warning was given to private medical institutions and hospitals in Bengaluru by the government.
The order said due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the state, it has ordered private medical institutions to reserve 50 per cent of the beds for Covid-19 patients for rates as stipulated by the state government.
Teams of senior officers will be assisted
The teams of senior officers will be assisted by an officer each from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), along with an Arogya Mitra from the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust.
Bhaskar highlighted that certain private medical institutions are denying admission to Covid patients referred by the civic body authorities invoking provisions from the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Epidemic Diseases Act.
State Health and Family Welfare Department has ordered the private hospitals to reserve 50 per cent beds for Covid patients.
It has come to the knowledge of the government that certain private medical institutions are denying admission to such referred patients and self-reporting symptomatic patients who are under distress, on some pretext or the other," he said.
Bhaskar highlighted that Covid patients referred by the civic body authorities should not be denied against the beds reserved under the government quota.
All the admissions and discharges of the Covid patients in the hospitals are done through the hospital bed management portal provided by the BBMP and SAST for both Covid patients referred under government quota of beds and for the private beds administered by the private medical institutions," said Bhaskar.
Similarly, he also directed the hospitals to display a board showcasing bed allocation with information of beds reserved under the government quota and also those not referred by the government, including details of occupied and vacant beds.
Hospitals should also display the phone numbers of supervising officers for an individual to contact them in the event of treatment or admission denial.
Bhaskar entrusted 14 officers to oversee 31 private hospitals such as Manipal Hospital, Apollo, Narayana Hrudayalaya, MS Ramaiah Hospital, Columbia Asia Hospital and others.
Bengaluru reports 2,000-+ Covid cases
Bengaluru reported as many as 2,156 fresh coronavirus cases and 36 more fatalities on Sunday (July 19), marking the third successive day of 2000-plus cases. A total of 253 patients were discharged following their recovery taking the total number of active cases in the city to 24,316.
On Sunday, Karnataka reported 4,120 Covid positive cases, raising its tally to 63,772, the majority of the cases are centred in Bengaluru.
(With agency inputs)
