Kejriwal orders delinking of hotels attached to hospitals

‘Beds in such facilities have been lying vacant for many days’

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday ordered the delinking of hotels that had been attached to city hospitals to enhance the availability of beds for COVID-19 patients.

The hotels are being released given the improving COVID-19 situation in Delhi, said Mr. Kejriwal.

There are less than 11,000 active cases in the city. “Some hotels were attached to hospitals to increase the number of COVID beds. In view of the improving situation and all hotel beds lying vacant for the last many days, these hotels are now being released,” the CM tweeted.

“It has been decided to discontinue the scheme of creation of health care facilities at hotels by private hospitals. All concerned private hospitals are directed to wind up the facilities operating in hotels with immediate effect,” an official order read.

In early June, around 40 hotels were attached to city hospitals by the Delhi government. Official data show the move enhanced the capacity of COVID-19 beds by 4,600.

The number of COVID-19 cases were increasing rapidly in June, which is why Covid Care Centres were established in about three dozen hotels, in addition to increasing capacity in government and private hospitals, the government stated.

“Although some hotel owners initially went to court against the decision, the Delhi government won the case. During the surge in cases, many patients were kept in hotels,” a statement read.

There are currently over 15,000 COVID-19 beds in the city out of which over 12,000 are not occupied.

In another tweet, the Chief Minister said: “Existing guidelines say that if any patient’s antigen test is negative but has symptoms, RT-PCR test must be done. I directed the officers today to ensure strict compliance of these guidelines.”