Private hospitals in Mumbai today agreed to set up isolation wards for treatment of swine-flu affected as government said patients can get admitted to such hospitals once officials found the facilities satisfactory.
About 19 top private hospitals have agreed to setup isolation wards with around 150 to 200 beds to attend people with complaints of H1N1 virus, state Chief Secretary Johnny Joseph said.
"The private hospitals have agreed to share the burden of tackling swine flu cases and the chief executives came up with plans of facilities to be established in their hospital for the isolation ward," Joseph said after the meeting.
"We will be sending our health team to inspect the hospital centres to find out whether they have followed the government guidelines," he said.
The government asked the hospitals to come back in seven days so that "once the officials clear the hospitals for having the isolation wards, the patients can get admitted to the private hospitals", he said.
Some of the important things which will be checked by health officials include isolated rooms with separate air-conditioning facilities, entrance and ventilators, he said.
"We (private hospitals) showed our willingness to join the government in tackling the situation and it is a win-win situation for both," the Hinduja Hospital CEO Pramod Lele told PTI.