The Bengal government on Monday asked private hospitals to increase the Covid bed count or reopen satellite centres they had been running last year for Covid patients, the request triggered by an alarming rise in the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus.

Several private hospitals said they had closed the satellite units following a sharp drop in the number of Covid patients towards the end of last year, a trend that persisted for several more weeks before cases started rising again early March.

“Private hospitals have been told to increase the number of beds. At the same time they should explore the possibility of reopening satellite facilities as the number of cases is rising sharply in and around Calcutta,” an official of the state health department said after a meeting between the department and private hospitals on Monday.

The satellite facilities, which were taken on rent by hospitals, were for patients with mild symptoms or those who were asymptomatic. In most cases, hotel rooms were used for such facilities.

However, by the end of last year, almost all these centres were closed down because there were not many takers. Most patients who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms opted for home isolation.

When health department officials asked the private hospitals to increase the Covid bed count, representatives of several healthcare units expressed helplessness, saying they could not do what they had done during the height of the pandemic last year.

They told health officials that the pressure of non-Covid patients was very high, unlike this time last year. Also, hundreds of surgeries and procedures are lined up over the next few months, and so it would be difficult to allot beds for Covid patients beyond a point.

The Telegraph has reported how private hospitals are struggling to increase Covid beds. Many hospitals are converting single rooms into twin-sharing facilities to increase capacity.

“So, we asked the hospitals to also explore the possibility of creating facilities outside their premises which could be used as satellite centres,” the health department official said.

Belle Vue Clinic had started a 100-bed satellite unit in August last year but shut it down in December. “There were 52 patients at the most, so running the facility was no longer viable,” said Pradip Tondon, the CEO of Belle Vue.

The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences had started a satellite centre in July with a capacity to treat 52 persons. “It never had more than 30 patients at a time and eventually the number came down to zero. We had to close down the unit in December,” said an official of the hospital.

“We now have 40 beds in the Covid wards, where 22 patients are admitted. If the number increases, we’ll first try to add Covid beds within the existing capacity, If that is not possible, we will think of resuming the satellite centre,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, of which the Mukundapur hospital is a flagship unit.

ILS Hospital had around 48 beds in its satellite centre, which it had started after tying up with a hotel in mid-April last year. The facility was closed in October.

However, some hospitals said they would not go for satellite centres. “Oxygen supply is one of the most crucial parts of Covid treatment. It’s difficult to have steady flow of oxygen supply at such satellite centres,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

“We now have around 50 Covid beds and almost all are occupied. We are trying to increase the capacity, but beyond a point we’ll again have to contact hotels to set up a satellite centre,” said Debashis Dhar, the group vice-president of ILS Hospitals.