New Delhi:A leading private hospital has requested the Delhi government to provide it with paramedic and other healthcare workers to supplement its existing staff in manning the additional COVID beds being added to the facility, according to sources.
The request has been sent by Fortis Hospital authorities nearly a week after the city government had ordered 22 hospitals to enhance bed capacity by 20 per cent to add a little over 2,000 additional COVID beds in total for patients.
Fortis Group's three hospitals located at Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj and Okhla are among these 22 facilities.
"We have limited manpower, and the bed expansion has been ordered. It will difficult to get extra manpower, especially at this time since many healthcare workers are themselves falling ill after getting infected by COVID-19. So, we have requested the Delhi government for some paramedic and other staff," a source at the hospital said.
At the Shalimar Bagh facility, Fortis had to expand the COVID beds from 52 to 100, while total COVID beds at Vasant Kunj and Okhla facilities after expansion would be 200 and 100 respectively, according to the government order.
Meanwhile, sources at the Apollo Indraprastha Hospital said they have sought more time to augment the bed capacity. "We have requested the Delhi government to grant us a bit more time to expand our number of beds as per the revised requirement, which is 300 COVID beds," a source at the facility said.