Deputy Chief Minister Msh Sisodia who took over the charge of the Health Department called upon an urgent meeting with the administrators and medical directors of top COVID dedicated hospitals on Friday. The meeting was convened via a video conference wherein various bed and manpower enhancement solutions were discussed.
Msh Sisodia assessed the situation and discussed the ramping up of the capacity of the ICU beds in the hospitals. Keeping in view the current coronavirus situation and the number of patients in need of intensive care, the hospitals were directed to augment ICU health infrastructure at the earliest. One of the major problems raised by the Directors of the hospitals was a lack of manpower.
"Most of the existing beds in the hospital currently have oxygen supply for the patients, and in the next ten days, and all the other beds will have the oxygen supply attached to them in a few days. The bed capacity, as well as all the infrastructural and manpower assistance will be given to all the hospitals as and when required by them," Sisodia said.
"If any hospital is in urgent need of any kind, the government will fully support it. All the medical chiefs of all the hospitals have been directed to increase their bed capacity and all other requirements because the Coronavirus cases are rising in the city. In this realization, the Delhi government has directed to increase the ICU bed capacity in all the big dedicated COVID-19 hospitals," he added.
The team of doctors present in the meeting included Dr Suresh, Chief of LNJP Hospital, Dr Sunil, Chief of GTB hospital, and Dr Sherwa, Chief of Rajiv Gandhi Hospital.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also took stock of the preparations at the newly constructed hospital in Burari, where 450 beds will be installed for the treatment of COVID-19. Beds with oxygen supply will also be installed at the newly constructed Ambedkar Hospital to ramp up the medical infrastructure of the hospitals in Delhi.
Dr Sarin, Chief Medical Officer of the ILBS hospital was also present in the meeting. Based on his experience, he suggested: "We should think of out of the way solutions to address this pandemic. With a few out of the box ideas, we can enhance the existing capacity of the ICU beds in the hospitals. We should also think about how we can recruit new manpower including health professionals and experts in these hospitals."
( With inputs from ANI )