West Bengal govt ramps up hospital beds by 732; fresh Covid cases at 2,816

Kolkata: The spike in Covid cases in Kolkata and its immediate suburbs — North 24 Parganas and Howrah — has prompted the state government to increase beds in the state-run Covid facilities in these affected zones. Beds were also added in districts like Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur.

In two separate notifications issued by the state health department on Monday, it has been said that 110 beds have been added in NRS Medical College Hospital for Covid treatment.

In Kolkata, of the 2,225 Covid beds across seven facilities, only a third is empty. This is significantly higher than the 39% Covid bed occupancy state-wide.

In North 24 Parganas, the government has taken over the 200-bed Nehru Memorial Techno Global Hospital, run by the Techno India Group. The state has also added 322 beds in three hospitals — 138 beds in Naihati SG hospital, 104 in Sree Balaram Seva Mandir and 80 in Ashokenagar SG hospital — in the district to cater to the increasing caseload. In Howrah’s Satyabala ID hospital, 20 beds have been increased.

On Wednesday, Kolkata had 6,781 active cases, North 24 Parganas 5,437 and Howrah has 2,072 cases. These comprise 62% of the total active cases in Bengal.

“The 732 bed increase across the state may ease the pressure from city hospitals,” said a senior official.

The state has already increased nearly 800 beds in Kolkata and its adjacent districts in the last one month and hopes to add another 2,000 across the state in the next couple of weeks. From July 1 onwards, 1,533 beds have been increased in the state, of which 996 are in highly infected districts like Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Howrah. The most number of beds — 396 — was added in North 24 Parganas, followed by Kolkata — 368 — and Howrah (232).

Apart from these newly included hospitals, there has been substantial increase of beds in several hospitals, including 160 beds in MCH, Kolkata, 53 in Desun hospital, 50 in Megacity Nursing Home in North 24 Parganas and 200 in Sanjiban Hospital in Howrah.

Also, 180 beds have been added to Old Matrisadan Hospital in Murshidabad, 25 in Malda Trauma Care Centre and 50 in Mikki Megha Hospital in North Dinajpur.