If a private hospital refuses to treat a non-Covid-19 patient, it can lead to cancellation of its medical registration licence. Multiple grievances of patients being turned away in private or public hospitals leading to denial of critical health services, which are not related to Covid-19, has led the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Delhi’s Health Department to clarify that no person should be denied healthcare in time of need.

In an order, Padmini Singla, Secretary, Delhi’s Department of Health said, “Non- compliance will be viewed seriously and action as per provision of law, including cancellation of registration of defaulter hospital or nursing home, will be initiated without further notice.”

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has stated that all States have been directed to identify pregnant women, those who have delivered recently, infants and children under five, those on treatment for chronic diseases, communicable diseases like TB and Leprosy, vector borne diseases, those requiring treatment for dialysis, cancer, blood transfusions, patients of haemophilia, sickle cell anaemia, thalassemia, and so on.

The Health Ministry had received reports that private hospitals were hesitating to provide critical services like dialysis, blood transfusion, chemotherapy and institutional deliveries to regular patients for fear of contracting Covid-19. “Clinics and hospitals are shut out of fear. Doctors there insist on testing before provision of health services. However, all health facilities should remain functional and additional testing, except for testing according to protocol, should not be prescribed for these patients,” Agarwal said.

Meanwhile, Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) that visited Hyderabad and Chennai made the following recommendations. “In Hyderabad, the teams suggested that donning and doffing areas of healthcare workers using personal protective equipment should be far from each other and patients should not be admitted in hospital wards that do not have attached toilets, as this leads to crowding in corridors (for access to common toilets),” said Punya Salila Shrivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.

“To Chennai, IMCT has stated that there is a need to increase awareness of Covid-19 in fishermen communities. There is also need to increase social distancing measures in hospital elevators among patient relatives. There is a need to increase use of PPE among healthcare workers,” she added.

On Covid-19 mortality, Agarwal said 3.2 per cent of all confirmed cases have died. Of these, 65 per cent are males while 35 per cent are females. “14 per cent of these 3.2 per cent deaths are below 45 years; 34.8 per cent between 45 and 60 years; 42 per cent are between 60 and 75 years, while 9.2 per cent are above 75 years,” Agarwal said.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has stated that 129 districts have been identified as hotspots; 297 as non-hot spots; and over 300 districts are unaffected by Covid-19.

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