A series of intense closed-door meetings between health officials and the administrators of private hospitals have resulted in 13 new hospitals agreeing to nominate one of their branches for Covid-19 care. The decision comes at a time when Bengaluru has seen a surge of cases since Sunday.
According to a government circular issued on Tuesday night, thirteen private hospitals in the city have agreed to nominate one of their branches for Covid-19 care. These include Apollo, Fortis, Narayana, Columbia Asia, Sagar, Sakara, Aster, Rainbow, Cloud-9, Jain, Vikram, People Tree and the Satya Sai Super Speciality Hospital.
Although the June 20 order from the Department of Health and Family Welfare had notified 51 hospitals in Bengaluru Urban empanelled with SAST under the AB-Ark scheme to start the treatment of Covid-19 patients, the order has resulted in pushback from many of the hospitals. Several newly diagnosed Covid-19 patients had told DH that the empanelled hospitals had refused to admit them into Covid-19, citing a lack of Covid-care infrastructure.
Dr B Manjunath, Director of Medical Management, Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) described the thirteen private hospitals, which are to start Covid-19 services, as being an initial list of hospitals. “We will add more hospitals in the days to come,” he said.
“Technically, the BBMP can commandeer beds in private hospitals if there is an urgent need. With the agreement of these 13 initial hospitals to designate one of their branches for Covid-19 care, they will fill the requirement of some of the smaller hospitals in the June 20 order, which are not yet ready to start Covid-19 care services,” he added.
He added that the location branches which would start services have not yet been identified.
Since Sunday, there have been 429 new Covid-19 cases disclosed in the city.