80% beds in Maharashtra private hospitals to stay reserved till November

PUNE: State health minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said 80% beds of private hospitals and nursing homes across Maharashtra would have to be kept reserved for Covid-19 patients for the next three months.
“With the shortfall of beds in big cities, the rise in Covid-19 cases and continuous testing, we have to make the necessary arrangements. This arrangement (reserving 80% beds) will continue for the next three months,” Tope told TOI, adding that a proposal to this effect was being made.

Confirming the development, state health secretary Pradeep Vyas said the proposal in this regard was ready and it would be reviewed at the end of the month.
The state government on May 21 had passed a notification in view of the rising Covid-19 cases, allowing the government authorities to take over 80% beds in private hospitals and regulate the treatment charges. The notification would lapse on August 31.
Most of the private hospitals in Pune expressed their willingness to maintain the 80:20 bed ratio but sought change in the treatment costs, claiming that they were unable to manage the overhead costs.
The head of the state unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Avinash Bhondwe, said the hospitals were willing to maintain the bed ratio for the next three months also, but there was a need to reconsider the treatment cost and it should be reviewed with the IMA members. Another IMA member said the rates being levied currently on patients prevailed nearly five years ago.
Representatives of some corporate hospitals earlier proposed to bring down the percentage of reserved beds to 50%. “We understand the present situation, but the hospitals need to take care of overheads. We have been even unable to pay the salaries of our staffers,” said a board member of a hospital.
Another IMA member said the burden on the hospitals in the city would reduce after the two jumbo facilities at Annasaheb Magar Stadium and on the CoEP ground start functioning from August 20.