Part 1: What’s the Reason Behind Hospital Bed Crunch in Delhi?

How prepared is the health sector in Delhi in terms of hospital beds, ventilators and other facilities? Tune in!

With close to around 30,000 coronavirus cases, are Delhi hospitals prepared in terms of hospital beds, ventilators and other facilities?

(Photo: The Quint)

Social media platforms like Twitter are abuzz with multiple incidents of coronavirus positive patients, or people with other ailments, or even expecting women having to run between pillar to post, shuttling from one hospital to another, only to be told that there is no availability of beds, or even ambulances.

On 4 June, a Delhi-based Twitter user by the name of Amandeep tweeted:

“My dad is having high fever. We need to shift him to a hospital. I am standing outside LNJP Delhi & they are not taking him in. He is having coronavirus, high fever and breathing problems. He won’t survive without help. Pls help. (sic)”

This is not a lone incident of a patient not finding a hospital bed in Delhi. There are many such accounts from Mumbai, too.

While the total tally in Mumbai has crossed over 50,000 cases, in Delhi it’s close to touching the 30,000-mark.

So, how has the pandemic affected India’s two biggest and crowded cities – Delhi and Mumbai – the national capital and the financial capital? How prepared are the health sectors in these states in terms of hospital beds, ventilators and other facilities?

In this two-part podcast, we deep dive into a city-wise case study. Tune into the first part of The Big Story, where we look at the situation in Delhi.