The Karnataka government on Thursday issued a circular directing hospitals to adopt a syndromic approach to admit Covid-19 patients amid increasing instances of false negative tests reports.
“Syndromic approach should be complied with strictly for hospital admission and treatment of cases, to prevent further damage in the larger interest of public health,” Jawaid Akthar, additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, said in the circular, dated 28 April but released on Thursday.
The order comes at a time when a large number of false negative Covid-19 test reports have resulted in denial of admission in hospitals.
“Considering the increasing number of false negative reports being witnessed in both RT-PCR & RAT testing methods, it has been decided to follow a Syndromic Approach and issue Patient Numbers for hospitalisation and treatment of such cases based on the authorization of doctors,” Karnataka health, family welfare and medical education minister K Sudhakar said in a statement on Thursday.
“This will help Covid-19 infected persons to get timely admission and treatment, especially those who seek treatment in government hospitals and private hospitals through SAST reference,” Sudhakar added.
Bengaluru has over 237,518 active Covid-19 cases as the city reported 19,637 new infections on Thursday, including 143 fatalities, according to government data.
Karnataka clocked 35,024 new cases on Thursday with 270 fatalities, taking its active case count to 349,496 and death toll to 15,306.
The existing rules mandate that infected persons have a patient ID issued by district authorities or the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, the city’s civic body) and Covid-19 positive certificates to get a hospital bed. However, after the latest directive, hospitals will have to admit patients showing Covid-19 symptoms.
However, experts believe the denial of admission in hospitals is related to shortage of beds in Bengaluru. Of the total 12,739 beds allocated under government or BBMP quota in all private and public hospitals, only 3,246 remain vacant as of Thursday, according to data from the city’s civic administration.
There are just 55 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and those with ventilators remaining in the city out of the available 909, data showed.
