To secure admission to intensive care units (ICU) have become difficult without connections and clout. Amid increasing COVID-19 cases in the nation, a survey has made some shocking revelations that 78 per cent of COVID patients who desperately needed ICU beds had to pull strings. Only four per cent were able to secure a bed through the routine process.

LocalCircles, a community social media platform that enables people and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions has made this survey.

Considering the national data, only four per cent of the people stated they did not have to use any identity to get a bed. 38 per cent of people got the bed after using someone's identity. Seven per cent of the people had to go through a huge pursuit with identity for the bed. Seven per cent of citizens had to pay bribes to hospitals or government agencies. 40 per cent of the citizens had to resort to all these means for bed.

According to the survey, four per cent of the citizens did not get beds amid all efforts. 92 per cent of the citizens have expressed the need to regularly update the information of beds available in hospitals on online dashboards. At least 92 per cent stated it should be compulsory for all hospitals to list real-time ICU bed availability on their websites and entrances.

To ensure that correct feedback is required, people were urged to call up their contacts in case they were unaware about the detailed experience of their relatives and family members while getting an ICU bed.