Cases filed against two hospitals in Delhi for turning away COVID patients

Complaints for filing the FIRs against the hospitals under the Disaster Management Act was earlier filed by the Delhi government at police stations concerned, an official said.The legal action was sought against the two hospitals, one in south Delhi and another in Janakpuri, for putting out wrong information on availability of COVID beds on the Delhi Corona app, an official statement said.

Cases were registered against two hospitals in Delhi on Sunday for turning away COVID-19 patients, a day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned them of strict action if found giving wrong information about availability of beds. Complaints for filing the FIRs against the hospitals under the Disaster Management Act was earlier filed by the Delhi government at police stations concerned, an official said.

The legal action was sought against the two hospitals, one in south Delhi and another in Janakpuri, for putting out wrong information on availability of COVID beds on the Delhi Corona app, an official statement said. ''The hospitals put out information saying that they have COVID beds available but later denied patients, saying no beds were available,'' it stated.

Police said an FIR was registered against Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in west Delhi's Janakpuri on the complaint of Bhoop Singh, Tehsildar, Dwarka for allegedly denying beds to coronavirus patients despite availability.

The Delhi Corona Patient Portal showed there were 93 beds available at Mata Chanan Devi Hospital for corona patients but it still denied beds to patients, saying they were not available, said Prashant Gautam, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West).

Another FIR was registered against HAHC hospital in Hamdard Nagar on the complaint of SDM, Kalkaji (Southeast) Vinod Yadav. The FIR stated that the hospital had been denying beds to COVID positive patients, police said.

''This fact was verified with the help of a decoy customer who approached the hospital but was denied admission. He was told that no bed was available whereas the Delhi Corona app showed 239 beds available in the hospital,'' said Atul Kumar Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South).

Kejriwal in a review meeting on Saturday had directed officials to take stern action against hospitals putting out wrong information about availability of beds.

He had said every hospital should ensure correct information on bed availability on the Delhi government app, and also on LED boards there. The app shows realtime availability of COVID beds in hospitals. It is updated by each concerned hospital.

The Delhi government has appointed senior officials at these hospitals to monitor bed availability.

A complaint was received against a South Delhi hospital that it denied admission to the patients claiming no bed were available although the the app showed 239 unoccupied beds there, said the government statement.

The app showed availability of 93 beds at the Janakpuri hospital yet the patients were turned down, it added PTI VIT AMP TDS TDS TDS

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