NEW DELHI : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government on Sunday decided to open its borders for the movement of people from 8 June but made treatment of patients limited for those outside from Delhi. Addressing a digital press conference, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the state-run and private hospitals will be made available for residents of Delhi, while the hospitals that come under the Union government in the capital will be made available for treatment of patients from everywhere.
“From Monday, the borders of Delhi will be opened. We felt that the hospitals may have additional burden with borders opening. The cabinet has decided that we need to create a balance. The Delhi government hospitals will be reserved for people from Delhi. The central government hospitals will be opened for people from anywhere. Private hospitals to be reserved for people from Delhi. Those private hospitals which do specialised treatments, they will be allowed to treat patients from across the country,” Kejriwal said.
The government had invited suggestions from the public on opening of borders and if treatment of patients from outside Delhi should be allowed in Delhi hospitals. There are 10,000 beds each in central and state government hospitals in Delhi. The survey received over 7.5 lakh suggestions from the public. Delhi borders to the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had been sealed for a week.
Delhi has one of the highest number of cases of covid-19 in the country. Over the last week, there has been an increase of over 1000 cases each day. Currently, there are 27654 cases and 761 deaths which have taken place. With the increase in cases, the government has been tackling increasing incidents of patients being denied treatment in hospitals.
Last week, the government had set up a five-member committee to probe the health infrastructure of the state. According to the report, Delhi will need 15,000 beds for treatment of covid-19 patients by the end of June.
“Last week we asked the people of Delhi that should the borders be opened even as hospitals will see a huge surge of people. If hospitals are opened for the rest of the country, where will the people of Delhi go? A majority of the people said that the hospitals should be restricted to people from Delhi until Corona subsided. According to the committee’s recommendations, Delhi will need 15000 beds by the end of June,” he added.
The announcement comes a day ahead of the first phase of Unlock India. India has been under a lockdown since 25 March. However, there have been easing of restrictions in each phase.
“In accordance with the central government rules, the Delhi government will allow for the opening of restaurants, malls and religious places. Hotels and banquet halls are not being allowed to open. With the increase in the cases, we may need these places to attach them to hospitals,” Kejriwal said.
Even as restrictions were relaxed, Kejriwal said that this does not mean that corona is over.
“We need to ensure social distancing, wearing masks and regular hand washing. These three things we need to do. Senior citizens need to believe that the lockdown is not over. They need to enforce this more strictly. The deaths are largely from those who are senior citizens and have co-morbitidy,” he said.
