Lack of hospital beds amid rising coronavirus COVID-19 cases in Delhi a cause of concern

New Delhi: Delhi on Thursday reported over 1,877 coronavirus cases in a single day and the total tally of infections has crossed the 34,000-mark since the pandemic broke. By Delhi government's own assessment till July 31 to treat coronavirus patients as many as 80,000 hospital beds will be required whereas only 9,000 hospital beds are available at present. The analysis was done by Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary in DNA, the world's most-watched news show.

There have been more than 34,000 cases of infection in Delhi and the death toll has exceeded 1,000. As many as 65 patients have died in the last 24 hours, the highest number of deaths in a single day in Delhi. That is, every 25 minutes a patient infected with the coronavirus is dying in Delhi. 

This is the reason why people are standing in queues outside hospitals in Delhi, in the same way, people are queueing up outside crematorium ghats. 

The Delhi government estimates that by July 31, there will be 5.5 lakh cases of corona infection in Delhi. Coronavirus patients currently have a mortality rate of 3% in Delhi. According to this, the death toll in Delhi after July 31 and after could rise upto between 15 to 20 thousand.

If this happens, the situation will become very frightening, if necessary steps are not taken in time, the condition of Delhi can be similar to that of New York, Spain and Italy, where there was no space left to keep the dead bodies in hospitals. Not only this, the doctors of these countries had to decide whose lives were to be saved and whose not.

In this situation when private hospitals in Delhi are making millions of rupees from patients for the treatment of the virus, the Delhi and Central government hospitals are struggling with lack of resources. However, the Delhi government claims that the number of hospital beds will be increased to 15 thousand by 20 June.

At present, about 5 thousand patients are admitted to hospitals in Delhi and about 4 thousand hospital beds are vacant. But in the case of ventilators, the situation is worrisome as there are a total of 584 ventilators available in Delhi at present and only two hundred and fifty ventilators are empty. According to this, around 6 per cent of patients in Delhi are in need of ventilators. And by July 31, around 4800 ventilators may be required.

Meanwhile, the number of cremation ghats and cemeteries scheduled to perform the last rites of those who died of coronavirus has been increased from 6 to 12. At some crematoriums, the working hours have been extended up to eight hours and the use of wood has also been permitted along with CNG for cremation.

The situation in Delhi is not under control, that is why the Delhi government is once again planning to take some tough decisions. Two big decisions have been taken, from tomorrow Jama Masjid of Delhi will be closed once again and from June 15, Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market will also be closed. 

If the situation does not improve, then people living in cities like Delhi have to be prepared for a more strict lockdown.