No platform to check live status of Covid beds in Chandigarh

At a time when the number of active Covid-19 cases in Chandigarh has reached an all-time high with around 3,800 being currently infected, the UT administration has failed to come up with a transparent platform where patients can check real-time availability of beds in dedicated hospitals in the city.

As of now, three hospitals have been identified for treatment of severe virus patients in Chandigarh.

Though the administration has a platform to publicise orders concerning Covid, critical information required by patients in emergency situations is not available. Even the daily bulletin released by the UT health department comprises only virus cases and fatalities with no data on the availability of medical infrastructure for such patients in the city.

While only a few states are providing data on bed occupancy in their daily Covid bulletins, the Delhi government has created an online platform that gives information regarding the availability of beds for Covid-19 patients.

Residents seek online portal on lines of Delhi

“The administration should be transparent about bed occupancy in the hospitals at the time when there is so much fear and anxiety among infected persons. The process should be hassle-free and if someone requires hospitalisation, the person should be able to check the availability,” RK Garg, a social activist and president of Second Innings Association, said.

“In these challenging times, an infected person feels harried and clueless about the availability of a hospital bed before leaving the house. To help them, bed vacancies in both government and private hospitals in the tricity should be displayed on a public portal, on the Delhi pattern. Such a portal should be updated every six hours,” said SC Luthra, senior vice-president of Resident Welfare Association, Manimajra Housing Complex.

A senior UT official, wishing anonymity, said the administration was keen on developing such a platform, but the idea was dropped in view of influx of patients from neighbouring states.

Over 60% patients from neighbouring states

“At present, over 60% Covid patients in the city hospitals are not Chandigarh residents. To help the native patients, helplines have been set up,” the official said.

Claiming that an adequate number of beds were available for Covid patients, UT adviser Manoj Parida said those requiring hospitalisation can go to Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16, and Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, if their health deteriorates.

PGIMER adds 30 Covid beds, nurses demand extra workforce

Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has added 30 more beds for Covid-19 patients after its initial capacity was fully occupied. However, the nurses’ association has written to the institute administration demanding more health workers for better management of patients. The institute earlier had 253 beds which have now been increased to 283. These include 53 beds with ventilator support.