Bhubaneswar, May 15: In a bid to free up more beds for critical Covid-19 patients at different Hospitals, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to rope in hotels for converting into Covid-19 facilities to treat patients with mild infection in the State Capital.

Today, the BMC Commissioner, Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh chaired a virtual meeting in this regard which was attended by owners of major hotels and representatives of the hotel and restaurant association body along with private hospital authorities to discuss the plan in detail, a first-of-its-kind in the State, to discuss on Hospital-Hotel tie up arrangement for creation of isolation beds in hotel rooms with oxygen facility. The Commissioner shared the idea of creation of isolation beds with oxygen facility for treatment of mild COVID positive cases (those can be managed on normal oxygen mask or nasal canula).

All the Hotel Association Members appreciated the idea and requested the Commissioner for facilitating the tie up with the private hospitals where their logistics including rooms/beds/house-keeping/Fooding/Sanitation facility can be leveraged with the expert medical services of the tied-up private hospitals for getting isolation treatment. In case the COVID positive patient needs more or special medical attention which cannot be managed at the hotel facility, then they can be transferred to the tied-up hospital.

The BMC Commissioner has assured the hotel association members that the Civic Body will play the role of facilitator for the Hospital-Hotel Tie-up.

The representatives of private hospitals were encouraged to support this tie-up arrangement. While showing their interest for such tie up arrangements. Corporate hospital facility like Apollo Hospital informed that they already have such tie up arrangement with hotels like Lemon Tree and Ginger Hotels in other states which can be replicated here also.

The Commissioner informed all that all interested hotel owners can approach the private hospitals of their choice for the tie up arrangement and intimate BMC of such arrangement. The Commissioner assured all that whatever coordination and facilitation as would be needed will be provided by the BMC in this regard.

This will be however a purely paid facility, and patients have to pay as per their choice of properties sel