The guidelines come in the midst of reports of people discharged or forced to wait a long time in hospitals.
New Delhi:
Amid reports of people being turned away or forced to wait a long time in hospitals, the Delhi government released a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for the treatment of patients with coronavirus on Thursday.
According to the rules, COVID-19 patients should be brought to the ambulance triage area without asking for details. This process should be completed in 15 minutes. The doctors on duty must take care of the patient within the hour. Food and water should also be available in the waiting room.
If beds are not available at the hospital, it will be entirely up to the hospital to transfer the patient to another and until then, the hospital will provide medical care to the patient, according to the new rules.
The rules also set out steps for patients who fall into the moderate to asymptomatic categories, detailing how they should be quarantined and released.
Hospital authorities should maintain a dedicated 24-hour hotline for patient complaints regarding the treatment or quality of food and other facilities, he said.
The rules arrived on a day when the central government expressed concern over the situation of COVID-19 in Delhi, the capital city with 1,359 new cases of coronavirus, which has allowed the city to exceed 25,000 and the number of death at 650.
Delhi had the highest peak in a day a day ago, with 1,513 cases.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Thursday that the growing number of COVID cases, a high positivity rate and low levels of testing in parts of the national capital were worrying.
Chairing an online meeting to review the situation in Delhi, he stressed the need for more testing, combined with aggressive surveillance, contact tracing and strict containment and perimeter control measures.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said his government’s primary goal is to save lives and ensure adequate facilities for COVID-19 patients who require hospital care.
The Delhi government said on Thursday that 56 private facilities had been tasked with reserving a proportional number of beds for COVID-19 patients and others for the economically weaker sections.
