Bed occupancy at hospitals up at 60% of pre-lockdown days

NEW DELHI: Hospital admissions as well as footfall in out-patient departments (OPDs) — which witnessed a major dip during the lockdown period — have started picking up pace in the “unlock” phase, with bed occupancy in private hospitals in June recovering to over 60% of pre-lockdown period. Attendance in OPD has bounced back to nearly 55% of the period before the pandemic hit India, shows an assessment by the National Health Authority (NHA).


The assessment is based on a survey of private hospitals empanelled under the government health insurance scheme — Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY). During lockdown in April, bed occupancy in private hospitals dipped to around 20%, while it picked up slightly in May to around 30% following some relaxations in lockdown and hospitals ramping up infrastructure and safety equipment to control infection. Similarly, OPD volumes during the lockdown period had to dropped to 15%


The findings assume significance because most of the private hospitals had initially stopped catering to non-Covid patients in the initial weeks after the outbreak. Besides, patients also stayed away from hospitals for fear of contracting the infection.

“We have seen a rapid pick-up in hospitalisation rates and OPD attendance in recent weeks. We hope to get back to the pre-lockdown workload within this month. People had delayed a large number of elective surgeries and other healthcare during the lockdown period,” NHA chief executive Indu Bhushan said. Of the 101 hospitals surveyed, majority of hospitals were aware about the Centre’s guideline on Covid management. However, around 77% of them lacked training on infection-control by the state government.