New Delhi, Mar 6 (IANS): Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan here on Thursday chaired a meeting with Delhi-NCR private hospitals for engaging them for coronavirus management as the number of cases is on the rise in the country.

"It's time for public and private sectors to come together and work as an alliance for collective efforts towards COVID-19 management," he said.

The discussion included preparedness in terms of bed capacity of hospitals for infected cases, isolation wards, protocols for sample collection and testing, protocols for outdoor patients.

The meeting discussed "to create a pool of beds in private hospitals," said a Health Ministry statement. NITI Aayog would support the Ministry and the private hospitals in doing so, it added

According to the Ministry, 35 labs have been identified across the country for collection and testing of samples. The number of such labs would be increased to 100 plus, it said.

The hospital representatives spoke about various outreach initiatives made by them for enhancing awareness among the hospital staff. They also volunteered to help raise awareness among people through their own efforts.

It was decided that a common communication in terms of coronavirus management should be maintained.

V.K. Paul, Member (Health) at NITI Aayog, and Heath and Family Welfare Secretary Preeti Sudan also attended the meeting.

Owners and heads of private hospitals, including Medanta, Apollo Hospitals, Max Hospitals, Fortis Hospitals, Cygnus Healthcare, Artemis Hospitals, Metro Hospital, Paras Hospital, Sarvodaya Hospital, VPS Healthcare, Nayati Hospital, Faridabad-based Asian Hospital, FICCI and IMA attended the meeting.