Govt, private medical colleges must reserve all beds for Covid patients: K Sudhakar

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar has asked all private and government medical colleges to reserve their beds for Covid patients in three to four days.

He, however, excluded emergency beds, and those meant for mother and child care and dialysis from the reservation.

This will apply to 12 private medical colleges and four government hospitals attached to two state-run colleges (Victoria, Bowring, Charaka and HSIS Gosha).

"The state hopes to get an additional 7,500 beds by doing this. All hospitals with less than 30 beds should only admit non-Covid patients. All private hospitals with more than 30 beds have to now reserve 80% beds for government-referred Covid patients, including ICU beds, ventilator beds, high-dependency units and high flow nasal cannula beds. This is an emergency situation," Dr Sudhakar said.

Also read: Medical students to be on Covid duty: Sudhakar

Private Hospitals' and Nursing Homes' Association (PHANA) said all hospitals with fewer than 30 beds amounted to a mere 100-200 beds in Bengaluru.

"If 80% of beds are reserved for government-referred Covid patients, where will private patients go? Let the government reserve 50% beds for government-referred Covid patients, allot 30% for private quota Covid patients and keep 20% for non-Covid patients.

"We also need to discuss where cardiac patients will be accommodated. I will discuss this issue with the minister," said Dr H M Prasanna, president of PHANA.

At St John's Hospital

Dr Sanjay Lewin, medical superintendent, St John's Hospital, which is one of the 12 private medical colleges in the city, pointed out that polytrauma, oncology, burns, psychiatry and thalassemia patients also require beds, besides the categories the government has exempted.

“Thalassemia patients require regular transfusions every three weeks,” Dr Lewin said. “There are also those with haemophilia, suffered a stroke, neurosurgical interventions, liver conditions and heart attacks. These are essential services that can’t be interfered with at the expense of Covid-19.”

While Covid is the priority right now, a lot of patients with the above-mentioned conditions got hit badly the last time, he said.

Lewin also noted that the non-Covid outpatient numbers had crashed and his medical college was catering almost exclusively to Covid even without the government order.