COVID-19 crisis: Arvind Kejriwal alleges black marketing of hospital beds

New Delhi: A couple of private hospitals in Delhi are refusing admission to COVID-19 patients and demanding lakhs of rupees for allotting bed to those in a pressing need, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday and warned of strong action against such "black-marketing of beds".

Asserting that there is no dearth of hospital beds in the national capital to treat COVID-19 patients, he said the Delhi government would deploy medical professionals at each private hospital to keep a tab on available beds.

He said the government has come to know of a few hospitals refusing admission to COVID-19 patients and indulging in "black-marketing of beds". "We will take strong action against such hospitals and they cannot refuse patients. Some time will be needed to break the mafia who are indulging in it. These few hospitals have political connections but they should not be under illusion that their political masters can save them," he said in a virtual press briefing.

He, however, added that most of the private hospitals in Delhi were good and only a couple of them were indulging in such malpractice. The government is talking to the owners of private hospitals to determine their problems in reserving 20 per cent of their beds for COVID-19 patients, he said.

The chief minister also said that testing of COVID-19 has not been stopped in Delhi as reported by a section of media. He said that currently 36 government and private laboratories were doing test of coronavirus. Action was taken against six labs for irregularities, he added.