Delhi to rope in nursing homes; Centre to give 500 railway coaches as COVID-19 cases spike in Delhi

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal met today in the national capital to discuss the COVID-19 situation in Delhi. After the meeting, Amit Shah said the Modi government is fully committed to controlling the spread of the coronavirus in Delhi.

"In view of the shortage of beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi, the Modi government at the Centre has decided to immediately give 500 railway coaches to Delhi. These railway coaches won't only increase 8,000 beds in Delhi but these coaches will be equipped with all facilities to fight COVID-19," said the Home Minister.

Amit Shah said that a committee has been formed for the treatment of coronavirus patients in private hospitals. The committee will be led by Dr Paul and it will work to provide 60% of the COVID beds in private hospitals at low rates. The committee will submit its first report by tomorrow. The Centre will also set up another committee of senior doctors to assist smaller hospitals in dealing with coronavirus patients, these doctors will provide telephonic guidance to these hospitals.

The Centre has also committed that it will make necessary resources like oxygen cylinders, ventilators, pulse oximeters and all other requirements available for Delhi to fight the pandemic.

"Testing for #COVID19 to be doubled in the next couple of days in Delhi and in 6 days, tripled," said Amit Shah

CM Kejriwal said the meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah was very productive. "Extremely productive meeting between Delhi govt and Central govt. Many key decisions taken. We will fight against corona together," said Arvind Kejriwal

Kejriwal said the bed strength for treating coronavirus patients in Delhi will be increased by 5,000 as the government has decided to rope in small and medium multi-speciality nursing homes to treat COVID-19 patients. These would be called "COVID nursing homes".

"With the Delhi government's decision, over 5,000 beds will be available for coronavirus patients. In the next few days, our officials will talk to owners of each nursing home to solve their problems," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

According to Delhi Corona App, out of the 9,802 beds designated for COVID-19 patients, 5,367 are being used as of 11:00 am on Sunday. The order to convert nursing homes into COVID-19 facilities was issued on Saturday.

"In order to avoid intermingling of COVID and non-COVID patients in small and medium multi-speciality nursing homes (10 bedded to 49 bedded) and also to augment the bed capacity for COVID-19 patients, all nursing homes in NCT of Delhi having bed strength of 10 beds or more up to 49 beds are declared as COVID nursing homes," said the order.

Besides, Health Minister Satyendra Jain has said that testing could be open for all if the ICMR guidelines say so. While AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has also said the testing process should be made easier and COVID-19 should become as simple as any other pathological test.

Singh added that he wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, asking him to remove the stringent ICMR guidelines on COVID-19 testing.

The national capital is currently conducting 13,000 tests per million population, which is the highest among the states in the country. However, a submission to the Delhi High Court revealed the state is still not testing to its fullest capacity. According to the submission, 17 public hospital sand 23 private labs should be testing 8,600 samples in one day but this number is only at 5,947 as of June 12. The Supreme Court has also criticised the state government for its low testing rates.

Delhi has total 22,742 active COVID-19 cases and has reported 1,271 deaths. As many as 14,945 people have recovered from the disease.

Also Read: Coronavirus update: Loss of smell and taste added as likely symptoms for COVID-19

Also Read: Jio Platforms to raise Rs 4,547 crore from TPG; ninth investment in past seven weeks