Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday lashed out at private hospitals and warned them of strict action if hospitals deny service to COVID-19 patients.
Warning those indulged in black-marketing of hospital beds, Arvind Kejriwal said, "Some hospitals are denying admission to COVID-19 patients. I am warning those who think they will be able to do black-marketing of beds using the influence of their protectors from other parties, you will not be spared."
The Delhi Chief Minister said that the state government has launched an app to stop the black marketing of beds. "We launched a mobile App to stop the black marketing of beds. We thought of making the information about number of beds and ventilators in hospitals transparent. There was uproar over it as if we committed a crime," Arvind Kejriwal said.
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 the novel coronavirus. Action was taken against six labs for irregularities, he added.
