With Karnataka overtaking Maharashtra to report the highest number of cases as well as deaths on Tuesday, and Bengaluru reeling under 300-plus daily deaths, the state government plans to use the 14-day lockdown that began Monday to rationalise the use of hospital beds, set in place proper triaging of patients, and create ICU beds on a war footing.
Since the beginning of this month, Bengaluru has seen 2,153 deaths, compared to 1,907 in April. In the first wave, it had seen 971 deaths in the worst month of September 2020. The city has been reporting 20,000-plus cases daily.
Amid allegations of black-marketing of beds in Bengaluru, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday assessed the situation himself, saying later, “One of the things I have said is that people must not occupy hospital beds for long periods of time. They are blocking access to beds for serious patients.”
Of the 9,242 Covid patients in 167 hospitals on Tuesday morning, nearly 303 had been admitted for more than 30 days, 503 for over 20 days, 1,900 for 11 to 20 days and 6,500 for one to 10 days, he said.
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “At many hospitals, even after a patient dies, these beds are not released for 15 days. Now we have a reporting system for patients after 10 days and this will be physically verified… We can get about 1,000 beds (freed) like this.”
