Guj: AMC reserves 1,219 beds in 18 pvt hospitals of Ahmedabad

In an attempt to address the shortage of beds amid the rise in COVID-19 cases, the civic body in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city has reserved 1,219 beds for infected patients in 18 private hospitals, an official said on Thursday.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has earmarked 18 hospitals as ''designated COVID-19 hospitals'' and reserved 50 per cent of their beds for poor patients, whom the civic body will refer to those hospitals.

Bed availability has been a major issue amid the fresh surge of coronavirus cases in government and private hospitals, as the city has been recording nearly 800 cases every day.

''To augment the availability, we added 1,219 beds in 18 private hospitals to enable patients to avail treatment at charges/ceiling fixed earlier. We will continue to add more beds in view of current situation,'' tweeted senior IAS officer Rajiv Kumar Gupta, who has been given charge to control the coronavirus situation of Ahmedabad city.

As per a notice issued by the AMC, 18 hospitals have been declared as dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and now these will only have to admit coronavirus patients.

The hospitals will reserve 50 per cent beds for patients referred by the AMC, while they can admit coronavirus patients on their own in the remaining beds.

Patients admitted on reserved beds won't have to pay the hospital and their treatment charges will be borne by the AMC.

The designated hospitals include Zydus Hospital, K D Hospital, Sterling Hospital, Narayan Hridayalaya, Saviour Hospital, among others.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)