Aurangabad: Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases, Aurangabad collector Uday Choudhari has asked private hospitals in the district to accommodate patients on regular beds if ICU ones were not available, a district official said on Friday.
As on Thursday, Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district had recorded 3,106 COVID-19 cases, of which 1,709 patients have recovered from the infection, while 166 have succumbed to it.
In a meeting here on Thursday, the collector asked hospitals to inform the civic authorities before treating COVID-19 patients or suspects and shift them to a dedicated facility if beds were available, the official said.
Private hospitals were also directed to admit patients, irrespective of whether they were referred by the civic body, to ensure timely treatment and accommodate them on regular beds if ICU ones were unavailable, he said.
The collector further asked private hospitals to reserve two beds in their casualty wards with oxygen facilities, till the time beds were made available at dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, he said.
If some patients don’t show any symptoms of coronavirus infection after five days of treatment, they can be shifted to civic-run COVID-19 care centres to recuperate, the official said, adding that this will free the beds for more patients.