Delhi residents alone will be treated at state government hospitals and most private hospitals in the capital, the Arvind Kejriwal administration announced on Sunday, ignoring warnings from doctors and activists that such a move would be unethical and could worsen the Covid-19 crisis.

“In Delhi, the state government hospitals have around 10,000 beds and the central government hospitals have another 10,000 beds. For now, we have decided that the 10,000 beds under the Delhi government will be kept for residents,” said Kejriwal, who lived in Kaushambi in neighbouring Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, till he became chief minister in 2015.

“The beds under the central government can be used by all. Private hospitals covering special treatments and surgeries will be open for all.”

The state government runs 37 hospitals, and the latest published figures show 933 registered private hospitals and nursing homes in Delhi. The capital has seven central hospitals, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Delhi Medical Association president B.B. Wadhwa told The Telegraph: “We cannot ask a patient, when serious, what his address is. We can’t refuse treatment. That would be immoral and illegal. It is the government’s prerogative to pass laws. As doctors, we will do our duty of treating people.”

Kejriwal, however, has lifted the week-old seal on Delhi’s road borders.

Late on Sunday night, the administration announced a list of documents that patients would need to furnish for treatment at Delhi’s state government and private hospitals.

These include the Aadhaar card, voter identity card, bank passbook, ration card, passport, driving licence, income-tax return or assessment order, the latest bills for water, telephone, electricity or cooking gas in the name of the patient or an immediate relation, and any post received at their address — as long as they were issued before Sunday.

For a minor, the parents’ certificates can also be used except for the Aadhaar card.

The government also announced that the bar on non-residents did not apply to those seeking transplantations, cancer treatment, neurosurgery or treatment for traffic collisions or acid attacks.

The order was issued by Delhi health secretary Padmini Singla under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, as a part of the Covid-19 regulations for the capital.

Kejriwal had on June 1 sought suggestions from Delhi’s public whether the state’s hospitals should be kept open for all.

On Sunday, he said that 90 per cent of the 7.5 lakh-odd suggestions received demanded that Delhi’s hospitals be available only to residents during the pandemic.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief minister also cited a report from an expert panel his government had set up to explain his decision. “They (panel) have said that by the end of June Delhi will need nearly 15,000 beds for Covid-19 patients. They have suggested reserving Delhi’s hospitals for the people of Delhi because if we open the hospitals for all, the 9,000 Covid beds which we have set up will be filled in just three days,” he said.

He added that an estimated 60 to 70 per cent of the patients at Delhi’s hospitals were from outside the capital.

Delhi has three municipal corporations, one municipal council and one cantonment board. The latter two — which run three hospitals in all — are managed directly by the Centre.

The three municipal corporations — which run major hospitals like the Hindu Rao Hospital, Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital, and the Rajan Babu Institute for Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis — are ruled by the BJP, which has opposed the state government’s decision but not clarified whether it would abide by it.

State BJP president Adesh Gupta courted arrest on Sunday at Rajghat in protest against the inefficiency of the state’s health administration.

He tweeted: “The CM who spoke of humanity before the polls has shamed humanity today. Lakhs of people travel to work in other states. They are in Delhi too. If they get infected, where do they go Kejriwal ji? If anything happens to them then who will be responsible?”

Delhi High Court had in 2018 shot down an attempt by the Kejriwal government to reserve four in every five beds at state government hospitals for Delhi residents.

Till Saturday night, there were 17,125 active coronavirus patients in Delhi, of whom 5,925 were being treated at healthcare facilities, and 812 had died of the infection. Delhi has an estimated population of around 2 crore.

The state government has decided to reopen malls, restaurants and places of worship from Monday but not hotels or banquet halls as these may need to be converted into hospitals in the near future.