New Delhi: The decks to use two city hotels as extended Covid-19 care units have been cleared by the Delhi High Court on Monday. This decision was based on the recommendations of an expert panel which also suggested that these hotels must be attached to hospitals.
A panel of AIIMS director Randeep Guleria and Niti Ayog member V K Paul was appointed by the court. The panel visited the five-star hotels. They told the High Court that it was advisable and infrastructurally feasible to use the Hotel Surya in New Friends Colony and the Hotel Crown Plaza in Okhla as Covid-19 care units.
These hotels can be used as Covid-19 care units for the treatment of asymptomatic patients. The panel said that those patients who do not have home-quarantine facilities or are mild cases or suspected to have contracted the virus can use these hotels.
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These hotels have not been designed as hospitals, therefor they are most viable to be used as care centers. The hotel authorities have been asked by Justice Naveen Chawla to start the process of converting their facilities to care centers.
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The Delhi High Court has allowed hotels to send a representation to the government regarding compensation of room and the safety of staffers.
The report which was filed in the High Court stated that the patients to be admitted there should be asymptomatic and without the facility of home-quarantine. Those patients can also be admitted who are mild cases and are suspected with a respiratory rate of less than 15. The room air oxygen saturation for these patients should be more than 94%.
The report also stated that the clinical care of these patients will lie with the hospital. The initial evaluation and triage of such patients should be done at the attached hospital.
The expert panel report said that a telephonic assessment of these patients’ general status should be a minimum of once in every twelve hours. A physical examination should be done at least once daily.
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The report added that an adequate number of resuscitation bays should be installed by the attached hospital at suitable locations. This will cater to the emergency requirements of the admitted patients who might need emergency medical assistance. These patients also might require stabilization before being transferred to the attached hospital.
Some common medical equipment should be made available in adequate numbers by the attached hospital at the hotel. These equipment include blood pressure monitors, glucometer, oxygen saturation monitors, and thermometers.
An equipped ambulance must be deployed by the hospital at the hotel on a 24X7 basis. This can be used to transfer any patient in whom the symptom progresses from mild to moderate to severe.
Doctors and nursing staff must also be deployed at the hotels, physically.
It has been pointed by the panel that there are three huge banquet halls in Hotel Suryaa. These halls can easily accommodate around 50-60 patient beds. The central lobby can be made at the central nursing station.
Hotel Crowne Plaza has one banquet hall. It can accommodate around 25 beds. The panel added that these banquet halls can be properly equipped and converted to health centers of Covid-19. Since there is an acute shortage of beds in the NCT of Delhi, these can prove to be useful.
