30 pc COVID-19 patients in Delhi hospitals from outside, most on ICU beds at pvt facilities: Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said 30 per cent of the COVID-19 patients admitted to city hospitals are from other states and most of them have been occupying ICU beds at private facilities. 

Amid a rise in the number of non-resident patients, the Delhi government has decided to collect data of their deaths separately, he said, adding that the national capital has the lowest death rate in the country.  Based on data of the last 10 days, the death rate in Delhi stands at 0.77 per cent.   "Around 30 per cent COVID-19 patients admitted to Delhi hospitals are from outside the city," he told reporters.

"People coming in from outside prefer private hospitals. They make up their mind in advance and directly go to these four-five hospitals they have heard of... such as Max, Apollo and Fortis. That's why ICU beds are full there," he said "Most of them have occupied ICU beds in private hospitals. There are 1,500 such patients admitted to Delhi hospitals," he said.

The minister, however, said there are around 1,000 ICU beds available in Delhi at present. Around 1,500 non-ICU beds and more than 500 ICU beds have been added over the last few days, he said.

"The number of vacant beds is available on Delhi Corona app... nothing is being concealed," he said.

Jain said data related to deaths of non-resident patients is being collected separately. Earlier, it was not so.  The minister also said there is no shortage of plasma. Those in need can get it from the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.

Asked about allegations of irregularities in testing by laboratories in other states, he said there were no such complaints in Delhi. "I cannot comment on what is happening in other states."   On Sunday, Delhi's cumulative COVID-19 case count rose to 2,46,711 with 3,812 more people contracting the viral disease, while 37 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,982.

As many as 52,405 tests were conducted to detect COVID-19 infection on Saturday, of which 11,322 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 41,083 were rapid antigen tests.