PIB News Update: 2105 beds (1875 oxygen beds and 230 ICU beds) in Central Govt. Hospitals including Safdarjung, RML, LHMC, AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jhajjhar, ESIC Okhla and Jhilmil, and All India institute of Ayurveda, Sarita Vihar are available now for care of COVID patients of Delhi. With this, the number of beds for COVID patients in Delhi has increased by more than 4 times, from the 510 beds available on 1st March, 2021.
The Union Health Ministry is in the process of continuously increasing COVID beds in Central Govt. hospitals further. Field Hospitals/makeshift facilities are being set up with the help of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), whereby 46 additional beds at Safdarjung Hospital and 240 beds at Lady Hardinge Medical College are expected to come up over the next two weeks.
In addition, in the DRDO facility in Dhaula Kuan, 250 ICU beds were made operational on 19th April 2021, and another 250 ICU beds arebeing made operational on 21st April 2021. Indian Railways has also committed to providing 50 coaches with 16 beds each at the Shakur Basti station, amounting to 800 beds, which can be used as isolation beds by Delhi Govt. Further, Railways will also provide 25 Coaches with 16 beds each amounting to 400 beds in its Anand Vihar facility by21st April 2021.
To ensure safe and efficient management of COVID cases in these railway coaches, the Delhi Government has been requested to refer to the relevant portions of the ‘Guidance Document on appropriate management of suspect/confirmed COVID19 cases in Railway Coaches’ circulated in May 2020.
The Union Government is fully committed to tackling the COVID pandemic with all resources at its disposal. Additional resources are also being marshalled and a ‘Whole of Government’ approach is being implemented to strengthen the hospital infrastructure across various states for prompt and effective treatment of COVID19 patients.