Ghaziabad: A portal created by the UP government gives information on the availability of Covid beds in hospitals across the state, but does not specify how many of them are in the ICU or with ventilator facility. This has not only created confusion among relatives of patients, but those calling up the numbers of various hospitals mentioned on the portal are also not getting through. On Tuesday, TOI called up various hospitals on the phone numbers given on the portal.
Ghaziabad: A portal created by the UP government gives information on the availability of Covid beds in hospitals across the state, but does not specify how many of them are in the ICU or with ventilator facility. This has not only created confusion among relatives of patients, but those calling up the numbers of various hospitals mentioned on the portal are also not getting through. On Tuesday, TOI called up various hospitals on the phone numbers given on the portal.
While in most cases, the calls went unanswered, in some instances, officials picked up the call and directed it to another number. But in almost all cases, there was no ventilator or ICU bed available, according to those who took the calls.
Around 11.30am, TOI called up Rama Hospital in Hapur after the portal showed 376 Covid beds were available there. The attendant who took the call agreed that beds were available, but curtly informed that none of them were with ICU or ventilator facilities. Around the same time, a call was made to Healing Tree hospital in Indirapuram and the attendant gave another number to enquire about beds. In the morning, the portal showed 23 beds were available there. When TOI called up around 6pm, the official said there was no ventilator or ICU bed at the hospital.
Sai Sanjeevani Hospital in Indirapuram displayed the availability of 16 beds. Though none of them were ventilator beds, officials said they would make up for it by providing a BiPAP machine to the patient. Ashish Kumar, a Supertech resident, pointed out a basic flaw in the way information about beds was displayed on the portal. A user is shown three options — “All”, “Only Available Beds” and “Beds Not Available”.
“The section where it shows ‘available beds’ does not qualify how many of these beds are ICU ones or with ventilator support. This creates confusion among patients’ relatives,” said Kumar. An official from the health department agreed that certain features on the website needed to be fine-tuned. “We are planning to send our suggestions regarding the portal to Lucknow,” the official said..
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