COVID-19: DDMA's crucial meeting to discuss capping hospital charges postponed

New Delhi, Jun 15 () A crucial meeting of the Delhi Diaster Management Authority to discuss capping private hospital and ambulance charges amidst allegations of exorbitant cost of COVID-19 treatment has been postponed, officials said on Monday.

Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who is also the DDMA chairman, had called the meeting on Tuesday (June 16) to discuss several important issues such as setting up of large makeshift hospitals, reduction in testing charges by private labs, and empowerment of resident welfare associations (RWA) by providing oxymeters and oxygen cylinders to deal with the pandemic.

"The DDMA meeting, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow, has been postponed. A new date will be decided later this week," an official said.

Besides the LG and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot, Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, the General Officer Commanding (HQ) Delhi Area, the Delhi Police Commissioner and other top bureaucrats were to attend the DDMA meeting.

The postponement of the meeting came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held meetings with Kejriwal, Baijal and three mayors to discuss the strategy to deal with the COVID-19 situation.

Several key decisions, including doubling of COVID-19 testing and house-to-house survey in containment zones for contact tracing, were taken in this meeting on Sunday.

On Monday, Delhi recorded 1,647 fresh cases, taking the infection tally to 42,829 while the death toll mounted to 1,400. BUN SMN SMN