Single-bed rooms, not beds in general wards, of private hospitals in Kolkata are in high demand because many patients are worried about catching an infection like Covid or influenza if they share rooms with others.
Several hospitals said even patients whose health insurance policies do not cover the expenses of private rooms are asking for one.
Officials of these hospitals said they had beds in general wards vacant but the single-bed rooms and suites are all occupied.
The CEO of a private hospital said that recently they had a patient for whom a senior official in the state health department had requested a room with only one bed.
The hospital could not provide the patient with such a room on the day of admission, but shifted him to a private room the next day.
One reason why many patients are scared of sharing rooms with others, doctors and hospital officials said, was that most patients are not getting tested for Covid before admission.
Such a test was mandatory a few months back. The doctors and hospital officials said they had never seen such demand for private rooms in the pre-Covid times.
“The risk of acquiring infections in a hospital is much lower in a private room compared with general wards. It has been seen that the maximum hospital-acquired infections take place in ICUs,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease specialist at Peerless Hospital.
“Now, because of Covid and other viral diseases like flu, patients and their relatives have become warier.” The hospital has around 300 beds, of which 80 are in private rooms, including suites.
“All single-bed rooms are occupied but several beds in the wards are vacant. The trend is continuing for the last couple of weeks. Patients are getting admitted in wards and being shifted to a private room whenever one is available,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
“Many patients whose insurance policies make them entitled to lower-category beds are willing to pay from their pocket for a private room,” he said.
The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences has 550 beds. There are 21 private rooms and 10 twin-sharing cabins.
On Thursday, all single-bed and twin-sharing rooms were occupied. “All single-bed rooms are booked for at least the next two weeks and there is a long waiting list. Earlier, the demand was never so high,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east and south, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.
“Some of the planned surgeries and procedures are being postponed by patients for a couple of days because they are opting for private rooms. Once the room is available, they are getting admitted.” At the AMRI Hospitals, almost all private rooms at its three units — in Dhakuria, Mukundapur and Salt Lake — were occupied on Thursday.
“Overall occupancy is very high but we have never seen such demand for private rooms. Even the suites, whose tariff varies between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000 a day, are occupied,” said Rupak Barua, group CEO, AMRI.
At Belle Vue Clinic, all 72 single-bed rooms and eight suites were occupied on Thursday.
“The trend has been there for 15 days. Another trend we are observing is patients keeping attendants in private rooms because of panic, despite the service being chargeable. Earlier, many such patients would not hire attendants,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.
Hospital officials said doctors are suggesting to patients who are elderly or suffering from comorbidities, or will undergo major surgery, to opt for single-bed rooms to reduce chances of infection.
“There have been instances when a patient who was not presenting any symptom of Covid was admitted to a non-Covid ward. He had a fever after a couple of days and tested positive for Covid. Immediately, the patient had to be shifted from the general ward,” said Mitra of Peerless Hospital.