Delhi Faces 8,000-Bed Shortfall in Private Hospitals Amid Rising COVID-19 Cases, ET HealthWorld

New Delhi: Delhi’s healthcare infrastructure is under strain amid a fresh rise in COVID-19 cases, with private hospitals reporting a shortfall of nearly 8,000 beds due to the suspension of new hospital registrations and delays in the renewal of NOCs by the Delhi govt.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Prem Aggarwal, president of the National Medical Forum and Delhi Hospitals Forum, along with secretary Dr Omkar Mittal, highlighted key regulatory bottlenecks affecting hospital operations. They said the Nursing Home Cell has suspended new hospital registrations and the renewal of existing licenses pending fire safety clearances.

Delhi Fire Service treats these as fresh applications and denies NOCs due to non-compliance with institutional building norms.

These include infrastructure requirements such as 50,000-litre water tanks, dual staircases with width of two metres each, and five-metre-wide corridors-criteria difficult to meet in residential buildings where many small hospitals operate.

As a result, many hospitals are now functioning only on a single floor instead of three, slashing overall capacity by around 8,000 beds, according to the forum.

Dr Aggarwal also criticised the policy of requiring individual STP (sewage treatment plant) installations in hospitals with over 50 beds, imposed by the DGHS Nursing Home Cell, even though the Central Pollution Control Board clarified via an RTI that it is not mandatory.

This restriction, he said, forces hospitals that could accommodate 100 beds to limit themselves to 50, hampering healthcare expansion.

Both forums have written to Delhi’s health minister, urging immediate policy intervention. Dr Aggarwal pointed out that the issue traces back to unplanned urban growth and inadequate healthcare planning.

During the drafting of the 2021 Master Plan in 2007, it was already evident that Delhi lacked sufficient medical infrastructure.

Only 107 institutional plots were designated for hospitals in 2007-woefully inadequate for a population then exceeding 10 million.

To address this gap, the 2021 Master Plan allowed residential buildings under 15 metres in height to be used for hospitals under the “other use” category. This provision enabled the creation of over 800 hospitals and nursing homes across the city, adding more than 20,000 beds.