COVID-19: Kamat slams bed reservation at pvt hospitals in Goa

Senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat on Tuesday slammed the Goa government's order asking private hospitals to reserve 20 per cent beds for COVID-19 patients, claiming that the move had created panic in people's minds.

Senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat on Tuesday slammed the Goa government's order asking private hospitals to reserve 20 per cent beds for COVID-19 patients, claiming that the move had created panic in people's minds. The state health department had on Monday issued an order directing all private hospitals with ICUs to reserve 20 per cent of their beds for COVID-19 patients.

"The government's decision to reserve 20 per cent beds in every private hospital in Goa has created panic and fear in the minds of people. Is government trying to take COVID-19 to every hospital bed?" Kamat asked. The Leader of Opposition questioned how safe it was for other patients if people infected by coronavirus were also admitted to small hospitals in Goa.

Kamat also reiterated his demand for a white paper on COVID-19 pandemic in Goa and sought to know why the state government had not made an optimum use of the South Goa District Hospital. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should take up the matter with the Prime Minister and get money from PM Care Fund to make all the facilities in the hospital fully operational, he said.