Majority of Delhiites want hospitals reserved for locals only, claims Kejriwal

The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government on Wednesday claimed that it received more than five lakh messages in which the majority of people said that the Delhi’s hospitals should be reserved for local Covid-19 patients alone. Earlier, Kejriwal had sought suggestions from the residents asking whether corona patients from other states should be allowed to come to Delhi or not.

According to the sources within the government, the AAP government is concerned about the numbers of ventilators and beds reserved for Covid-19 patients. The government is worried that if the patients from other states start getting admitted in Delhi’s hospital, it would make it difficult for local residents to get beds. In order to prevent this, borders of Delhi were sealed for one week and suggestions were sought on the issue.

Kejriwal also said that his government is thinking to consider only those in Delhi’s hospitals who show an address proof of their residence. He said, “This is not an easy task because people from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and many other states, who are living in Delhi for years, have certificates of their respective states but not of Delhi’s. If they are infected, where they get treatment is our major problem. The second major problem is the increasing number of patients in Delhi every day. To deal with this, the government is constantly increasing the number of beds and ventilators in hospitals.”

“Today there are 6,731 beds in Delhi while only 2,631 patients are admitted. There are another 4,100 beds lying vacant. People of Delhi need not to be disturbed right now, we are fighting well against corona,” added the CM.

As per government sources, around 1,000 new cases of Covid-19 are coming up in Delhi every day and if this continues then more beds will be required.

Meanwhile, AAP MLA Atishi Marlena said, “A lot of people are giving their suggestions. A lot of improvement to face the situation was done in public hospitals, so people around Delhi want to get admitted here. But, in the suggestions that we are receiving, some people are saying that the Delhi government hospitals should be reserved for Delhiites only and people from other states can get admitted in the central hospitals but not in Delhi government hospitals.”