The state health department has mandated that all private hospitals in Jharkhand must reserve 50 per cent beds exclusively for Covid care in the wake of rising cases, according to an order issued by health secretary K. K. Soan on Monday overriding the state government's earlier directive to reserve 25 pr cent hospital beds for Covid patients.

State health minister Banna Gupta also chaired an emergent meeting at Nepal House in the afternoon to take stock of the Covid-19 situation. In a statement issued after the meeting, he said, the government was working out plans to sort out issues of hopital bed availability to ensure timely treatment of Covid patients.

“Earlier, we had asked private hospitals to reserve 25 per cent beds for Covid patients. But considering the surge in our state, we have now directed them to double the reservation,” Gupta said in his statement, adding that all private hospitals must adhere to the directives of the government in the fight against Covid-19.

As per the health department data, Ranchi currently has about 2,383 beds while active Covid cases are over 6,700 in the district. Ranchi deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan said he had already ordered all incident commanders in districts to ensure compliance of the government's directive on reserving beds in private hospitals.

“All incident commanders have been asked to immediately hold meetings with all private hospitals in their jurisdiction to ensure 50 per cent reservation of beds are followed from now. We are taking all necessary steps to increase the coverage of beds so that critical patients don’t suffer,” he said.

Jharkhand received 1,500 doses of Remdesivir injections from the Centre on Monday after facing a crisis for days while treating critical patients, according to a separate communiqué isued by the health minister's office. “All the freshly received doses have been dispatched directly to about 15 hospitals that were in need of Remdesivir injections,” Gupta said.