Kejriwal withdraws its decision to convert small nursing homes into COVID Hospitals
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government on Sunday withdrew its decision to convert nursing homes with 10-49 beds into COVID Hospitals. The decision was passed only a day before and was withdrew with Delhi Medical Association’s intervention. The Delhi Medical Association wrote to the Delhi government saying the decision might prove devastating for the non-COVID patients.
As almost all the major hospitals in the national capital are looking after the COVID patients, these small nursing homes are the only hope for the non-COVID patients. If they are also converted into COVID Nursing Homes, this will harm the healthcare needs of the non-COVID patients.
According to the new circular issued by the Delhi government, the order to convert the small nursing homes into COVID Nursing Homes will now be “withdrawn with immediate effect”. Apparently, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. They discussed the state’s preparedness to check increasing COVID cases.
The earlier move was taken to augment the number of beds for COVID patients. By converting small nursing homes, the government had planned to add around 5,000 more beds to treat COVID patients.
