NEW DELHI: Amid complaints of private hospitals turning away patients needing critical healthcare services like dialysis, blood transfusion and chemotherapy or insisting on Covid-19 testing, the Centre has asked states to take immediate steps to resolve such grievances or denial of critical services.On Thursday, health minister Harsh Vardhan wrote to all states asking them to take immediate steps to ensure assured and uninterrupted blood donation and transfusion services for people with blood disorders such as Thalassemia , Haemophilia and Sickle Cell Anaemia.States are also advised to ensure that all health facilities, especially in the private sector, remain functional and provide critical services so that such patients who need these critical services do not face any difficulty, an official said.“States/UTs are advised that as per the guidelines issued on 15th April, 2020 by the Ministry of Home Affairs , all health services should remain functional during the lockdown period. The movement of service providers may be facilitated, especially for those working in the private sector,” health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said.The Centre also issued a detailed guideline with standard operating procedure (SOP) for dialysis on April 7th as well as guidelines for blood donation and transfusion.Besides, it has also issued a guidance note to enable the delivery of essential health services during the Covid-19 outbreak. This includes providing essential services for reproductive and child health, immunization, communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy and vector-borne diseases, as well as non-communicable diseases such as cancer and dialysis.States/UTs are also advised to follow the guidelines regarding Covid-19 testing issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research. “The protocol should be widely disseminated among healthcare service providers and that testing for Covid-19 should be as per protocol. Healthcare service providers need to take necessary precautions for personal protection and use PPE rationally as per the 24th March, 2020 guidelines of the Health Ministry. Guidelines for infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities should also be widely disseminated in public and private healthcare institutions,” Agarwal said.Meanwhile, many states like Delhi have also directed private sector to open healthcare facilities and follow protocols. It said action will be taken including cancellation of registration if any violation is found.