The NRS Medical College and Hospital will have 110 beds for Covid-19 patients.

The government-run hospital has so far kept patients suspected to have Covid-19 in isolation. If they test positive for the virus, they are usually sent to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital or MR Bangur Hospital.

“It has been decided that the building that houses the chest and dermatology departments and the ground floor of the orthopaedic ward will be converted into facilities for treating Covid-19 patients,” an NRS hospital official said.

The decision was taken on July 14 at a meeting of the Rogi Kalyan Samity of the medical college and hospital.

Apart from this, four beds in the critical care unit will be kept ready for critically-ill Covid-19 patients.

The demand for beds for Covid patients has been increasing every day for the past few weeks, according to health department officials.

“Creating a new facility at the NRS Medical College and Hospital will help,” a health department official said.

On Wednesday evening, of the 600 beds in Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, 81 were vacant.

At the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beleghata, of the 115 beds, there were two vacant beds around the same time.