With more beds vacant, hospitals wind up step-down facilities

18 hospitals had tied up with 34 hotels to establish these facilities during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19

With more than 10,000 beds available in hospitals and COVID-19 Care Centres (CCCs), not including another 50% that are reportedly unoccupied in the private quota, step-down hospitals in Bengaluru have started shutting down. According to data provided by the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association (PHANA), 18 hospitals had established step-down facilities in 34 hotels across Bengaluru. Together, they had 1,304 beds, but on May 28, just around 270 beds in these facilities were occupied. PHANA President H.M. Prasanna told The Hindu that many hospitals had decided to shut down the step-down facilities by May-end. “Given the number of COVID-19 cases in the city, there is no need for these facilities. With beds available under both private and government quota and low occupancy in these facilities, it did not make sense to continue with them,” he said and added that the focus had now shifted to vaccination.