CHENNAI: The Chennai corporation has added nine new triage/screening centres to the existing 12 centres functioning across city corporation limits at present.
The new centres will ensure that residents who test positive for coronavirus will not have to travel far to be screened, MA Siddique, Secretary of Commercial Taxes, who has been nominated as special coordinator for Greater Chennai Corporation told reporters on Thursday.
He was addressing a press conference along with Corporation Commissioner G Prakash.
In addition to these, a 24x7 screening centre has also been set up at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Island grounds.
"At present, city residents who experience even mild Covid 19 symptoms, especially during nights, rush to our government hospitals directly because they are anxious. This may prevent someone suffering from more severe symptoms like breathlessness from being treated on priority," said Siddique. The 24x7 screening centre will allow those patients to be checked and recommended home isolation or hospital/care centre admission based on the symptoms.
With the number of Covid 19 cases continuing to increase in the city, steps are being taken to increase the number of oxygen beds, he added. In government hospitals, there are 2545 oxygen beds and 3129 non-oxygen beds.
"We will be adding 2400 oxygen beds. Today itself, 250 beds have been added each to the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Egmore and to the Government Royapettah hospital," he said.
Oxygen points will be added to the beds available at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam. Further, to the existing 1057 ICU beds, 320 more are to be added, he said.
Corporation Commissioner G Prakash told reporters that a new umbrella portal http://covid19.chennaicorporation.gov.in/covid/home/ has been created to enable city residents to access all Covid-related information in the same place.
Here, information on vaccination centres with Google map coordinates, addresses of testing centres, screening centres and fever camps are available.