Details of COVID-19 hospitals will be available online soon: Nodal officer appointed for the job

Deputy Secretary Saranga Dhar Nayak has been appointed as the nodal officer for the dissemination of information related to COVID-19 treatment facilities.

Soon, you can get all information about COVID-19 hospitals available in India online. The Health Ministry has appointed a nodal officer to "collect, collate and consolidate" information regarding hospitals and healthcare facilities designated for COVID-19 treatment across the country. The information will be published on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This is to ensure that COVID-19 patients don't face difficulty in getting treatment for the disease.

The Health Ministry on Monday appointed Deputy Secretary Saranga Dhar Nayak as the nodal officer for the dissemination of information related to COVID-19 treatment facilities. Nayak has been asked to publish a detailed district-wise list of healthcare facilities designated for COVID-19 treatment within 15 days.

The decision comes in compliance with the Central Information Commission's (CIC) directions, which were issued after the Ministry failed to provide details of COVID-19 treating hospitals across the country sought by an RTI applicant.

Venkatesh Nayak, from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives, had filed the RTI Seeking district-wise details of hospitals and healthcare facilities designated as COVID-19 treatment centres along with their postal addresses, telephone numbers and the criteria for them being destinated as COVID-19 treatment centres. After hearing Nayak's plea, Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka on June 5 asked the Ministry to appoint a nodal officer for the dissemination of COVID-19 related information in public domain on suo motu basis. The Ministry of health was given a time period of 15 days to furnish all details and upload the same on its website.

Not enough resources to tackle COVID-19 peak

Researchers from an Operations Research Group constituted by ICMR have warned that India will witness COVID-19 peak in mid-November, and during that time there could be a shortage of isolation and ICU beds, and ventilators.

As revealed by the Union Health Ministry a few days ago, there are currently 958 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals with 1,67,883 isolation beds, 21,614 ICU and 73,469 oxygen supported beds across the country.

In addition, the government has operationalised 2,313 dedicated COVID Health Centres and 7,525 COVID Care Centres in the country. As many as 21,494 ventilators are available for COVID beds, and order of 60,848 more ventilators has been placed, the ministry stated.

Delhi Govt Asks Hospitals To Share COVID-19 Treatment Charges

Following a social media buzz over the high cost of coronavirus treatment at a private facility, the Delhi government has asked all private hospitals to share the rates that they are charging for COVID treatments.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told a news agency on Saturday that the government will decide on what to do after observing the rate of every hospital.

The rate card of Max Hospital that had gone viral on social media on Friday showed that the facility was charging Rs 72,000 for an ICU with ventilator. Netizens stating that the charges were too high for a common man.

However, Max Healthcare, which runs the facility, clarified the viral rate card did not carry all the facts. It tweeted, "A picture related to the pricing of COVID treatment at Max Patparganj (stated in some tweets as Max Gurgaon) is being circulated on social media. However, it did not carry all the facts such as inclusions of routine tests, routine medicines, doctor and nurse charges, etc."

A statement issued by the Max Healthcare stated that its Saket branch, which is a COVID only facility, has incurred a loss of Rs 6.5 crore.