West Bengal directs hospitals to display ICU bed availability by category

Original source summary

ICU Beds Kolkata: In a move to improve patient safety and ensure greater transparency in critical care services, the West Bengal health department has directed all government and private hospitals to display the availability of intensive care unit ( ICU ) beds under different categories at their facilities. The directive follows a Supreme Court order mandating a standardised display system that indicates the level of ICU facilities available at hospitals. Under the state health department’s instructions, hospitals must assess and classify their ICU beds and display the information at strategic locations across their premises. Also Read:West Bengal health panel plans online complaint filing, digitisation of records According to the department’s order, ICU beds will be categorised into three levels, with Level 1 further divided into two subcategories based on the availability of ventilators. One category will include ventilator-equipped beds, while the other will comprise beds without ventilators. Levels 2 and 3 will cover ICU beds with the facilities and equipment prescribed for their respective categories. “All the hospitals have been asked to start the level determination and analysis activities at the earliest. During the determination, they have to comply strictly with features for level 1 ICU beds as these beds are meant for critical patients,” said a state health official. An administrator at IPGMER-SSKM Hospital, the biggest and busiest govt hospital in the state, said they had started categorising the ICU beds so that level 1 conforms to the classification. “We are trying our best to finish our analysis so that we can go ahead with the display,” said a source at IPGMER-SSKM, TOI reported. According to health department sources, the criteria for Level 1 ICU beds include the space available for each patient, the availability of life-saving equipment and monitoring devices, the nurse-to-patient ratio, and round-the-clock availability of doctors. Private hospital

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