Amit Shah’s Plan to Manage COVID-19 in Delhi
Due to rising cases of COVID-19, Home Minister Amit Shah has issued measures to control the infection in Delhi. Watch our latest video to learn more.
On Friday 12th June the Supreme Court had questioned Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal on their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The Supreme Court said, “Covid-19 patients are treated worse than animals. In one case, a body was found in the garbage. Patients are dying and nobody is there to attend to them. The situation in Delhi is "horrendous (terrible), horrific (shocking) and pathetic (useless)". In a number of cases, Delhi is at the third position after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. There were headlines that there was a drop in number of testing per day from 7,000 to 5,000 in Delhi. The Supreme Court had asked the Delhi government to explain the situation because Chennai and Mumbai had increased their testing from 16,000 to 17,000. So far there have been about 38,000 cases of coronavirus in Delhi. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that looking at how the cases are increasing, by the end of July, there will be 5.5 lakh cases in Delhi and Delhi would need 80,000 hospital beds to treat the patients.Delhi is not prepared for this.
To control the COVID situation in Delhi, A meeting was held between Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 14th June 2020. Amit Shah had tweeted some of the measures that would be taken to help Delhi fight the crisis.
1. For the shortage of beds for Corona patients in Delhi, the Central government has decided to immediately give 500 railway coaches to Delhi. These railway coaches will provide 8000 beds in Delhi and these coaches will have all facilities to fight the corona infection. The Centre will also supply the necessary resources including test kits, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, and pulse oximeters (machines that measure the level of oxygen).
2. The COVID -19 tests in Delhi will be doubled in the next two days and tripled after six days. Testing will be started at every polling station in each containment zone.
3. To improve the contact mapping in Delhi’s containment zones, a comprehensive (detailed) health survey of every person will be done from house to house. The report will come within a week.
4. To help private hospitals deal with coronavirus patients, the Central government will form a committee of senior doctors at Delhi's famous All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The committee will provide guidance on the telephone. The helpline number would be released.
5. A committee under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul will present its report on providing 60 per cent beds in private hospitals reserved for coronavirus patients at a low rate, fixed treatment and testing costs.
6. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted that it was an extremely productive meeting between Delhi government and the Central government. Many key decisions have been made. We will fight against corona together.
7. Delhi needs about 80,000 beds and it currently has only about 20,000 beds. The Delhi government has said that in the coming week, it will add 20,000 beds in the hotels and banquet halls of the city.
8. Last week, the Delhi government had ordered the hospitals run by the state government to be reserved only for the residents of Delhi. This order was cancelled by Lieutenant (deputy) Governor Anil Baijal, who said that treatment should not be denied to any patient because he/she is not a resident of Delhi.
