Coronavirus | In Bengaluru, confusion over beds, crackdown on labs

There isn’t yet a transparent system to track available COVID-19 beds in private hospitals

Prabhu Prasad (name changed), 41, tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Since then, he and his wife, who also tested positive, had been isolating themselves at home. On Wednesday morning, when Mr. Prasad’s oxygen saturation levels were dropping, he contacted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) control room seeking a bed in a hospital. After several calls, he was sent an ambulance and asked to go to a private hospital in south Bengaluru. He was in for a shock when he reached the hospital, oxygen cylinder in tow. He was told that there had been “a mistake” and no beds were available. Mr. Prasad had to wait in the lobby of the hospital for nearly two hours after which the hospital authorities asked him to wait outside in the ambulance.