The group headed by NITI Aayog member VK Paul last month gave some suggestions to the government to deal with the corona infection. It was said that in future arrangements will have to be made for hospitalization of 23 cases out of every 100 corona virus infection cases.
This estimation is higher than the projection the group had made in September 2020 ahead of the second wave, when it calculated that about 20% of patients with “severe/ moderately severe” symptoms would require hospitalisation. After the Covid-19 second wreaked havoc, the recommendation to set aside a larger number of hospital beds is based on the pattern seen during April-June to this year. Reportedly, during its peak, on June 1 when the active caseload across the country was 18 lakh, 21.74% cases required hospitalisation in the 10 states with the maximum cases, of them, 2.2% were in ICU. NITI Aayog says that we should be prepared for even worse situation. The commission has estimated 4 to 5 lakh corona cases in a day. Along with this, it has been said that two lakh ICU beds should be readied by next month- including 1.2 lakh ICU beds with ventilators, 7 lakh non-ICU hospital beds (of them 5 lakh oxygen-enabled), and 10 lakh Covid isolation care beds. The group’s calculations then were based on the utilisation of hospital beds in Covid hospitals and health centres observed till the end of August 2020, during the first wave.
