A mobile medical unit, ambulance service, and 24X7 helpline will also be set up for shifting patients from the Covid care centre to the hospital, said officials.
A day after it was revealed at a meeting chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar that a Gurgaon private hospital will be tying up with a real estate firm to set up oxygen beds in vacant flats, officials from the latter have revealed that 150 such beds will be functional by the end of next week.
“We have initiated the work and 150 beds will be functional by the end of next week at our project OKR in sector 67 in Gurugram to be handed over to the Medanta hospital…an additional 250 beds will be ensured in the month of May,” said Dr Payal Kanodia, Trustee, M3M Foundation.
Officials said the facility will be run and managed by Medanta hospital and will function as a step-down facility, where “less-critical patients” will be admitted on the basis of their health status “through a referral procedure developed with the support of Medanta”. A mobile medical unit, ambulance service, and 24X7 helpline will also be set up for shifting patients from the Covid care centre to the hospital, said officials.
Read more:Gurugram NGO comes to rescue of patients in need of oxygen
The tie-up comes at a time when Gurgaon is facing a massive shortage of beds for Covid patients, as the district records more than 3,000 new Covid cases per day. Last week, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg had directed hospitals to reserve 60 per cent of beds under the general category and 75 per cent of ICU and ventilator beds for Covid patients. Despite this, the web portal where data on bed availability is updated in real time indicates there continues to be a shortage of beds. As of 5.30 pm on Tuesday, there were no vacant ICU beds for Covid patients and the number of vacant ventilator beds was down to one.
Under such circumstances, the administration is focussing on increasing both its bed capacity for Covid patients as well as augmenting other health infrastructure. The district administration is now looking to also rope in volunteer doctors and other medical staff who may be “fit and willing” to offer their services in the fight against Covid.
Officials said doctors, nurses, MBBS students as well as retired government doctors, private doctors, and those retired from the Armed Forces Medical Services can volunteer to offer their services as part of this initiative. “As we are planning to set up makeshift hospitals, we will require manpower. Existing hospitals are already completely stretched. To ensure makeshift hospitals function, qualified doctors will be more than welcome to volunteer their services,” said Garg.
