Notices Issued to Private Doctors to Open Clinics, Hospitals

Ahmedabad, May 7 (PTI) As many as 228 private doctors in Ahmedabad city have been served notices by the civic authorities, asking them to comply with an earlier order and open their clinics and hospitals by May 8, an official said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, IAS officer Rajiv Kumar Gupta had asked all private clinics and hospitals in the city to resume their operations in the next 48 hours as several of them were shut since late March long due to the coronavirus scare.

Gupta has been appointed as the Officer on Special Duty at Ahmedabad to oversee COVID-19-related operations of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

On Wednesday, he had asked all clinics and private hospital to reopen in 48 hours or lose licence.

"Notices were served to 228 doctors on Thursday to remind them of the deadline ending on Friday," said a release issued by by Gupta.

"In case of default, identified doctors shall be attached to private designated COVID-19 hospitals or COVID-19 care centres.

"However, private clinics run by doctors above 65 years of age are exempted from compulsory opening," said the release.

In another decision, Gupta said the AMC has decided to take over 60 hotels, to be used as designated COVID-19 care centres.

"These hotels are being requisitioned under the Epidemic Act for providing air conditioned facilities," the release said.

Gupta also added that the AMC has designated eight new private hospitals to treat coronavirus patients.

"This takes the total number of private hospitals designated as COVID-19 hospitals to 15 and the number of beds to around 1,600," said the release.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)