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Jun 12: There have been complaints of non-availability of beds or denial of treatment to coronavirus patients in the national capital despite nearly 70 per cent of beds in five designated hospitals run by the Delhi government lying vacant, with experts attributing it to people''s aversion towards state-run facilities.

As per the latest information shared on the Delhi Corona app on Thursday afternoon, more than 3,000 beds are lying vacant in these five dedicated COVID-19 hospitals that have a total capacity of 4,344 beds.

However, almost all beds at several big private hospitals are shown to be occupied.

Families of many COVID-19 patients, confirmed or suspected, have alleged in the past few weeks that they have been denied admission at many facilities or have not been able to get a bed for their kin.

Medical and public health experts feel it may be because of the image associated with government hospitals, related to infrastructure and hygiene conditions, and perhaps shortage of staff.

According to the latest data available on Delhi Corona app on Thursday afternoon, a total of 9,444 beds are available in private facilities and hospitals run by the central and Delhi governments. Out of these, 4,371 are vacant.

The app shows that beds are available at Delhi government-run hospitals dedicated for COVID-19 treatment such as LNJP Hospital (1,219), GTB Hospital (1,314), Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital or RGSSH (242).

However, almost all beds at several big private hospitals are shown to be occupied.

At LNJP Hospital, there are a total of 2,000 beds, out of these 781 are occupied. GTB Hospital has total 1,500 beds, only 186 of which are occupied. Even at RGSSH, 258 of the 500 beds are occupied.

Beds are available at other dedicated COVID-19 facilities in the national capital too, according to the app. Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital has 94 unoccupied beds out of a total 176 and Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital has 145 vacant beds out of a total 168.

This makes a total of 4,344 COVID-19 beds at these five dedicated Delhi government hospitals, out of which 3,014 or 69.38 per cent are vacant.

A senior doctor at the RGSSH said, "We are only admitting very serious COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Those with mild symptoms, or asymptomatic ones, are either being home quarantined or being sent to COVID Care Centres. Our beds are on stand-by also to accommodate serious patients in case there is a sudden rush."

Delhi Heath Minster Satyendar Jain had recently said that some private hospitals could have been denying admission, but the Delhi government-run hospitals have not denied beds to any needy COVID-19 patient.

He had also said that main private hospitals are almost full to their capacity in terms of number of COVID-19 beds.

According to the app, at prominent private hospitals like Indraprastha Apollo, Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, BL Kapur Hospital are fully occupied.

Max Hospital in Saket has a total of 200 beds for COVID-19 patients, and only one is vacant.

On June 9, the Delhi government had directed 22 private hospitals in the national capital to dedicate a total of 2,015 extra beds for treatment of coronavirus patients, revising its earlier allocation limit of 20 per cent.

Lawyer and public heath activist Ashok Agarwal said infrastructure and hygiene are two main factors, and people still want to "avoid government facilities".

"I know of cases, where people were willing to be on waiting list of private hospitals but did not go to a government hospital, even though beds were available," he said.

Even those who went to a government hospital for COVID-19 treatment, complained of "dirty toilets, and these being used by multiple patients", Agarwal said.

"Also, as the cases erupted successively over the months, many people got scared and were in two minds to go to a government hospital, as admitted patients were making allegations in videos and on social media about lack of proper services. Besides, there is shortage of medical staff at various facilities, and each patient needs to be attended to," he argued.

Delhi government hospitals and private facilities were directed to prominently display information about the availability of beds on a flex board at their main gates.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday ordered Delhi hospitals to display the availability of COVID and non-COVID beds, charges for rooms or beds along with contact details on a LED board outside the hospital.

Max Hospital sources said they were already displaying the status of beds on LED screens near their reception area even before the government order.

A spokesperson from Fortis Hospital said, "We are in the process of arranging to put up the displays as per the prescribed format."

Delhi recorded 1,501 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the COVID-19 tally in the city to over 32,000, and the death toll due to the disease mounted to 984, authorities said.

Kolkata, Jan 12: Strongly defending the new citizenship law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the dispute that has arisen over it has made the world aware of persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan.

He, however, deplored that a section of the youth is being “misguided” over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which is aimed at giving and not taking away anybody's citizenship rights.

“CAA is not about taking away citizenship, it is about giving citizenship. Today, on National Youth Day, I would like to tell this to the youngsters of India, West Bengal, North East that this is not an overnight law for giving citizenship.

“We must all know that any person of any religion from any country of the world who believes in India and its Constitution can apply for Indian citizenship through due process. There's no problem in that,” he told a gathering at Belur Math, the headquarters of Ramkrishna Mission.

Modi said even Mahatma Gandhi had favoured Indian citizenship to those fleeing religious persecution and that his government has only delivered on the wishes of the freedom fighters.

Referring to anti-CAA protests in the North-East, Modi vowed to protect the distinct identity and culture of the people of the region, and asserted the new law will not hurt their interests.

“We've only done what Mahatma Gandhi had said decades ago. Should we send these refugees back to die? Are they our responsibility or not? Should we make them our citizens or not?” he said, evoking a thunderous applause by the gathering.

Modi said some people with political interests are deliberately spreading rumours about the new citizenship law, despite “complete clarity” over the CAA.

“Our initiative to amend the citizenship act has created a dispute. It is the result of our initiative that Pakistan will now have to answer why they have been persecuting minorities for the last 70 years. Human rights have been demolished in Pakistan,” he said.

Seeking to assuage the concerns of the people of the North-East, Modi called the region “our pride”. “Their culture, traditions and demography remains untouched by this amended law,” he said.

He said the citizenship law was only “changed a little” for those who were ill-treated in Pakisan after Partition.

“They were having a bitter time living there. Women were in danger of losing their pride,” he said.

“Young people have understood the whole thing but those who want to indulge in politics over it will not,” he said.

Modi said five years ago, there was disappointment among the youth of the country, but the situation has changed now.

“Not just India, the entire world has a lot of expectations from the youth of the country. The youth are not afraid of challenges....they challenge the challenges,” he said at the Belur Math, the abode of Swami Vivekananda for several years until his death in 1902, aged 39 years.

Modi, an ardent devotee of Vivekananda, spent the night at the Math.

He has a long association with the Ramkrishna Mission order founded by Vivekananda in 1897. Inspired by the teachings of Vivekananda, Modi had arrived at the Mission Ashram in Gujarat's Rajkot and expressed desire to join the order.

Swami Atmasthananda, who later went on to become the 15th president of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, then headed the Rajkot branch and had advised him that sanyas was not for him and that he should work among people.

During those days, Modi used to regularly meet Atmasthananda and sought his spiritual guidance.

Although Modi went back after spending some time there his the relationship with Swami Atmasthananda and the Ramkrishna Mission continued.

Whenever Modi used to visit Kolkata, even during his days as Gujarat chief minister, he would travel to the Math.

In 2013, during his Kolkata visit, he had gone to Belur and sought the blessings from Atmasthananda.

He had in 2015 called on ailing Swami Atmasthananda at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan, a hospital run by the Mission in south Kolkata and enquired about his health.

After Atmasthananda's death in 2017, Prime Minister Modi had termed it as a “personal loss”.

On Sunday, the prime minister paid tributes to Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary, which is celebrated as the National Youth Day, and spent some time in the spiritual leader's room in quietude.