COVID-19 patients with little to no chance of survival were being sent from private and corporate hospitals to the State-run Gandhi Hospital, remarked Health Minister Eatala Rajender even as he warned the managements against resorting to such steps.
A similar situation where patients with little hope of survival were sent to the government hospital from private facilities had earlier been noted during swine flu outbreak.
Under such circumstance, the death of a patient gets registered at the government hospital and not at the private facility.
ADVERTISEMENT
The end-stage COVID patients could not survive even 24 hours after reaching Gandhi Hospital, said Mr Rajender, who held a meeting with senior officials of the Health department on Wednesday to discuss the prevailing pandemic situation and the arrangements to be made if the caseload were to increase further.
Taking stock
The Health Minister later visited Nature Cure Hospital, Telangana Institute of Medical Science at Gachibowli and Gandhi Hospital to take stock of the situation.
ADVERTISEMENT
Speaking to mediapersons, he said that 14,000 beds in private medical colleges will be put to use to deal with the spike in cases. Besides, hospitals with more than 20 beds will also be utilised as doctors there have an understanding of COVID.
Mr Rajender pointed out that those who resort to protests during these times were not human.
Healthcare staff in government hospitals have been requesting better facilities such as PPE kits.