Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city, the local civic body on Sunday warned private hospitals not to create an artificial shortage of beds for treatment. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said there was no need to panic as 1,500 beds were available and it was in the process of requisitioning another eight to ten hospitals to enhance the numbers further.

It said some private hospitals were admitting COVID-19 patients who did not require hospitalization in a bid to fill up beds and create "artificial scarcity".The civic body said it had reached out to private hospitals across the city after a review meeting was chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Gupta, who is the special officer for COVID-19 in Ahmedabad city, and directed them to stop any such "unscrupulous and illegal practice".

The AMC said the office-bearers of Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association have been intimated about this issue as well.The civic body also told providers of 108 ambulance service to ensure, as much as possible, that members of a family are admitted in the same hospital and not different ones.

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city, the local civic body on Sunday warned private hospitals not to create an artificial shortage of beds for treatment. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said there was no need to panic as 1,500 beds were available and it was in the process of requisitioning another eight to ten hospitals to enhance the numbers further.

It said some private hospitals were admitting COVID-19 patients who did not require hospitalization in a bid to fill up beds and create "artificial scarcity".The civic body said it had reached out to private hospitals across the city after a review meeting was chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Gupta, who is the special officer for COVID-19 in Ahmedabad city, and directed them to stop any such "unscrupulous and illegal practice".

The AMC said the office-bearers of Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association have been intimated about this issue as well.The civic body also told providers of 108 ambulance service to ensure, as much as possible, that members of a family are admitted in the same hospital and not different ones.