Private hospitals opt for delisting as infection cases come down

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 5

As the district is witnessing a decline in positive cases, many private hospitals have asked the Health Department to delist them from Covid dedicated facilities.

Following a written request, the Health Department has already delisted one private hospital in the city. In fact, the demand for delisting is stated to have come after there was a sharp decline in the number of hospitalisations.

Besides, some hospitals in the city have also requested to decrease the designated Covid bed strength because their routine work is badly affected due to the pandemic.

Notably, in the wake of the decline in coronavirus cases, the Punjab Government has already asked hospitals to resume selective surgeries.

Health officials said hospitals requesting delisting were ironically the ones, which had voluntarily come forward to seek permission to admit Covid patients during the surge.

The Patiala Civil Surgeon, Dr Satinder Singh, said, “We have not delisted any hospital on our own. The hospital authorities gave us a written request. Therefore, we delisted one private hospital.”

As there was a drastic decline in positive cases private hospitals wanted to resume their routine work, he added.

Meanwhile, many private hospitals have reportedly overcharged patients for the Covid treatment. The Health Department said one private hospital had already returned the overcharged amount while an inquiry against another in this regard was in progress.

147 contract virus

The district today reported only 147 Covid cases while 210 patients recovered from the disease thereby reducing the active case count to 1,435.

Of 147 positive cases, only 32 were the contacts of past positive patients while 115 were reported from elsewhere afresh. Dr Satinder Singh said Patiala city reported 52 cases, Kauli 17, Nabha 15, Dudhan Sadhan 14, Bhadson 10, Harpalpur 11 and Rajpura nine. Besides, Kallon Majra and Shutrana reported seven positive cases each, he added.

The total case count in the district as of now stands at 47,354 since the pandemic outbreak last year. Meanwhile, the district reported six Covid deaths, thereby, taking the total count to 1,265 since the virus onset last year.