Madhya Pradesh: Bed Occupancy Drops To 50% In State-Run Hospitals

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Due to the availability of best of healthcare services and state-of-the-art facilities in private hospitals, bed occupancy at state-run medical facilities in urban areas, including Bhopal, has dropped to 50%. However, government-run hospitals and health centers in tribal areas continue to operate at full capacity, as there are no better private medical care options available.

The administration of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, reports a bed occupancy rate of 96%.

Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Prabhakar Tiwari has written to all government hospitals to refer the cases to JP Hospital (district Hospital) as its bed occupancy has dropped to 50 per cent in SNCU ward.

The scene is much different at government hospitals and medical facilities in tribal areas. Shahdol CMHO Dr AK Lal said, 'Our government hospital is the only option available in tribal areas so we always have 100 per cent occupancy throughout the year.'

In urban areas like Bhopal, there are a number of nursing homes and private hospitals so people prefer these medical facilities to the government hospitals and this has resulted in drastic drop in bed occupancies there, he added.

30% occupancy despite state of art facilities

'We have state of art facilities but even after 300 beds, we only have one-third bed occupancy and this is when JP Hospital has completely stopped taking child delivery cases, and so all cases are coming to Katju now. In Urban areas people proudly share with friends the name of private hospitals from where they seek medical consultation. This has led to a drop in bed occupancy in government hospitals.' --- Col. P K Singh, superintendent K N Katju Hospital

AIIMS has 96% bed occupancy

'AIIMS, Bhopal has 96 per cent bed occupancy. We have a long waiting list and still people come here as we provide the best medical treatment and healthcare. We have around 4-month waiting but still patients come to us for the treatment.' --- Ajai Singh, AIIMS director