Amid a surge in the number of coronavirus cases in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered an immediate procurement of 1,200 BiPAP machines for new intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the national capital.
The BiPAP machines will be procured immediately from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on nomination basis, the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office said. The Chief Minister’s decision will allow immediate operationalisation of new ICU beds being added in Delhi this week, it added.
Following Kejriwal’s directions, 411 ICU beds have been added for COVID-19 patients in hospitals in the national capital in the last five days.
This includes beds in several private hospitals. “As many as 29 beds were added on November 17, 100 beds on November 18, 76 beds on November 19 and 206 beds were added November 21,” Delhi government said on November 21.
Kejriwal on November 18 said that steps had been taken to provide around 1,400 more ICU beds in the national capital.
The Delhi government also directed 42 private hospitals to reserve 80 per cent of their total ICU/HDU bed capacity for treatment of COVID-19 patients with immediate effect.
The city recorded 4,454 fresh COVID-19 cases and 121 more fatalities on Monday. Delhi currently has 37,329 active cases of COVID-19.
