The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association (PHANA) on Sunday launched a portal — Search My Bed — which will provide real-time information on the availability of beds in private hospitals for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. This has been a long-standing demand from citizens who were otherwise forced to call up private hospitals or knock on their doors to see if there were any beds available for patients.
Secretary of the PHANA Rajashekar Y.L. said that 95 private hospitals had already started providing real-time information on bed availability. “In the coming days, more and more hospitals will be enrolled and hospitals will be encouraged to display the data in real time,” he said.
With this, citizens will have access to data on available beds with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) via the Central Hospital Bed Management System and the private sector (
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On Sunday, the portal showed that 1,699 beds were available; however, all occupied. “The portal will display the number of vacant beds available from registered private hospitals. Hospital phone numbers and the location map are also given,” he added. Hospitals have to update their data periodically as and when a patient is discharged or a bed opens up.
Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar, who inaugurated the portal virtually, said that once the new system was stabilised, it would be extended to other districts in the State.
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Citing discrepancies in the number of beds available now and data provided by the hospitals, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta called upon private hospitals to maintain transparency so that those in need could get timely help.
Measures have been taken to increase oxygenated beds in the city by 2,000, of which 620 have been made available, he said, and added that remaining beds would be made available in two or three days.