Mandeep Singh said three private hospitals told the family that they did not have a bed, even though an application made by the Delhi government indicated they had availability. Others did not even take phone calls 68 years old, including those he tested.

Finally, Lakhjeet Singh went to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) – the biggest government hospital in Delhi. Before they departed on the 30-minute trip to the hospital, Mandeep Singh said government applications showed the hospital had 1,100 beds available.

But when they arrived, Mandeep Singh claimed his father-in-law was rejected by medical staff, even though the government hospital in Delhi was legally bound not to reject emergency patients. Medics say there are no free beds.

“It is very unlikely that 1,100 beds will be occupied by the time we get to the LNJP hospital,” Mandeep Singh said.

Outside the hospital, old Singh fainted. His family forced him inside, where 10 minutes later a doctor examined him and declared him dead on arrival.

In a statement, LNJP expressed condolences to the Singh family and denied that he was refused entry. The hospital said he was examined by a doctor and died on arrival.

On June 4, Lakhjeet Singh’s daughter wrote a short message on Twitter: “She’s not there anymore. The government is disappointing us.”

The highest Covid-19 count in India

When India was locked on March 25, Delhi had recorded only 606 cases of Covid-19 and 10 deaths. When the city first began to loosen lockout restrictions in the third week of May in an effort to revive its economy, the numbers began to increase – and on June 8, there were more than 40,000 cases.

Sisodia warns that Delhi would need 80,000 more hospital beds in such a scenario.

Dr. Arvind Kumar, chairman of the Chest and Lung Transplant Center at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi and founder of the LungCare Foundation, said the situation in Delhi was “frightening.”

“At present, the numbers are increasing very fast and the problem with this infectious disease is that as the infected group increases in the community, the number of cross infections that occur from the infected group also increases and multiplies,” he said.

At a press conference on Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said around 23,000 new Covid-19 cases had been reported in the city in the past 10 days. Last week, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was stated positive.

About 55% of Covid-19 cases are active in isolation at home, officials say, but the rest need medical attention.

As cases escalated and people rushed to look for hospital beds, in early June the city government launched the Delhi Corona Application, which displays real-time information about the availability of beds in government and private hospitals. Hospitals enter information into the platform, and government officials cross-check these figures.

Kejriwal said the application, which is updated twice a day, would help bridge the information gap regarding bed status and could be used to register complaints against hospitals that refuse to accept infected patients.

But with applications that show free hospital beds in many facilities, it seems that the problem is not just providing more beds: hospitals also need staff to take care of them.

Lack of medical personnel

Shahana Chanda, 34, was taken to at least five hospitals in early June, according to her uncle, Shahid Siddiqui, a local politician.

Although the hospital application said beds were available, his family said he was repeatedly refused from the facility, until finally being treated at the famous central government hospital at Delhi-Safdarjung Hospital.

Chanda was tested for Covid-19 upon admission and was given a bed – but after that, her family said she was ignored.

“There is no one to look after him,” said Siddiqui. “No medication was given. He was left alone, only oxygen was given.”

Chanda died on June 7. Siddiqui said she was releasing her oxygen supply to walk to the bathroom on the ward, where she fainted. “When he fell, no one came to help him. His brother had to take him back to bed. When the doctors examined him, they said he was no longer,” Siddiqui said.

Safdarjung Hospital said in a statement that Chanda was in critical condition when treated and that his family had wasted important time taking him to a different hospital. The hospital said Chanda was initially tested negative for the corona virus.

The persecution does not end there, said Siddiqui.

“When he died, the brother was asked to put it in a bag, sew it and bring it to the morgue, and put it there. There was no one there to help them,” he said.

Safdarjung Hospital told CNN that they would not respond to the allegations.

One TV report shows a man lying on the ground naked in a ward, with an elderly unconscious on a nearby bed. There is no medical staff ready to help.

Parv Mittal, president of the Resident Doctors Association at LNJP Hospital, said the facility was overwhelmed on the day of recording.

“There is a shortage of medical and household staff. Doctors and nurses take rounds but are too much of a burden. Many have contracted the infection due to long working hours. The situation is much better now,” he said. “More and more domestic workers are being employed and CCTV cameras have been set up to monitor sick patients.”

The Supreme Court asked Delhi officials to increase the number of beds in the entire state and to “provide the right infrastructure and staff” for Covid-19 patients, calling the conditions “sad” and “inappropriate.”

Action taken

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the situation in Delhi after the Supreme Court’s scathing report, and then set a series of standard operating procedures after talks with the Delhi government.

Among other measures, the cost of isolation beds in private hospitals has been significantly reduced – while Delhi’s testing rate, which the Supreme Court considers low, has been increased from an average of 5,000 tests every day to 18,000, according to Chief Minister Kejriwal.

Officials say another 20,000 Covid-19 beds will be added there next week. This includes a large spiritual center that will be converted into a specialist hospital with 10,000 beds – expected to be the largest Covid-19 center in the world – on Friday.

In addition, 500 old train trainers, with a total of 8,000 beds, have been designated as centers of isolation for mild cases.

But experts still doubt that Delhi has enough manpower to operate additional facilities.

Kumar, from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said front-line workers were exhausted and afraid of getting infected by the virus.

“We don’t have enough manpower to run even our own hospital today,” he said. “We fight with nurses every day. They want to resign, they want to leave. The resident doctor disappeared overnight … People don’t want to do the work here … There are labor problems in every hospital.”