The state health department has issued a guideline asking all hospitals to create a mechanism so that only critically ill patients are admitted in the intensive care unit.

An official of a private hospital said the ICU beds had become full in many hospitals. The number of patients has gone up with more cases being reported now, but the number of ICU beds has not seen a proportional increase, he said.

The guideline is aimed at keeping the ICU beds free for the truly “deserving patients”.

“In some instances, critically ill patients are not getting ICU beds. Before ICU referral, adequate triage with oxygen and other supportive measures to be provided in wards or high dependency units (HDU),” the guideline said.

The private hospital official said hospitals could create provisions for administering high-pressure oxygen to a patient who does not need ventilation. “The health department wants that such patients should be treated either in the ward or in another ward, that will act as an intermediate between general ward and ICU,” he said.

“This will keep the ICU bed vacant only for someone who needs ventilator support,” he added.

While the charge for an ICU bed without ventilation can range between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000, the charge of an ICU bed with ventilation can range between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. The charge of a bed in a ward or cabin would range between Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000. It would be higher in an HDU.