VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the Health Department to allocate 50 per cent of beds in all private hospitals empanelled under the YSR Aarogyasri scheme to COVID patients. Even temporarily empanelled and non-empanelled hospitals have also been directed to allocate 50 per cent of beds for Covid-19 patients.
Reviewing COVID-19 situation in the State at an official meeting on Thursday, the Chief Minister said the Health Department should ensure that COVID treatment under Aarogyasri should be free and uniform all over the State.
He laid emphasis on clarity with regard to the number of beds available in the hospitals and which are being allocated to COVID patients.
Explaining the process of functioning of 104 call centres, the Chief Minister said when a phone call is made to the centre, the message will go to the district headquarters depending on the location of patient. The Collector and the district administration should respond immediately and admit the patient in Covid hospital at the earliest.
He said that medical services should be provided completely free of cost to COVID patients. Pointing out the number of patients waiting for admission in government hospitals, more so in the cities like Vijayawada, Guntur and Tirupati, he advised officials to arrange COVID Care Centres (CCCs) in the place adjacent to hospitals.
"We have been asked to set up CCCs in German hangars. The R&B Department has been entrusted with the task of setting up the hangars. Beds equipped with oxygen supply will be set up in the CCCs. They will act as an extension of the hospital itself and ease pressure on the hospital to a maximum extent," Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal explained during the daily media briefing on Covid.
According to Singhal, the new CCCs will come up in 2-3 days. People with mild symptoms are encouraged to opt for home isolation or go to CCCs. A total of 13,356 patients are undergoing treatment at 88 CCCs in the State and another 30,880 beds are available, he said.
At present, there are 108 government hospitals, 349 corporate empanelled hospitals, 47 corporate temporarily empanelled hospitals and 94 private hospitals in the State for Covid treatment, he said. There are 48,439 beds in 598 hospitals and of the total, 41,517 beds are occupied and 6,922 beds are vacant. Of the total patients, 24,500 are undergoing treatment under Aarogyasri scheme.
During the review meeting, the Chief Minister also instructed the Health Department to recruit more staff on need basis. Every COVID hospital should ensure supply of quality food, maintenance of proper sanitation and provision of quality medical care to patients, he said.
Jagan said there should be no problem in supply and storage of oxygen. He directed officials to ensure uninterrupted supply of oxygen to patients by undertaking repair of faulty supply lines if any.
"In the last 24 hours, we have transported 472 MT of oxygen to hospitals in the State. The demand for oxygen is increasing with the rise in COVID cases. We have already written to the Centre seeking more allocation of oxygen," Singhal explained.
"At the same time, we have decided to procure 25 cryogenic tanks of 20 MT capacity each. Thus 500 MT capacity of oxygen is added to the State. It will take 3-4 weeks to ground the proposal. Further, oxygen concentrators and cylinders are being procured to meet the increase in demand," he added.
Besides liquid oxygen supply, six plants in the State have already produced 25 MT of gaseous oxygen and another 19 MT is expected to be added with four more plants going into production. At present, 76 MT of gaseous oxygen is being produced in the State.
In view of the growing demand for oxygen, the State government has also urged the Centre to allot tankers to transport 200 MT of oxygen per day from Sriperumbudur and another 200 MT from Bellary and from Odisha. The government has already released Rs 100 crore for oxygen supply and strengthening of infrastructure and new tankers, Singhal said.
On Covid vaccination, he said two doses have so far been administered to 12 lakh people and single dose to 42 lakh people. "We are holding talks with the Centre to allow the State to complete vaccination of the 45+ age group. There are 1.45 crore population in that age group and 3 crore doses of vaccine is required. In May, only nine lakh doses have been allocated to the State for the first fortnight. We have been allowed to procure 13 lakh more doses. The State government will be filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court with all these details," he said.
PM Modi enquires about COVID-19 situation in Andhra Pradesh
PM Modi called up Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday night and enquired about COVID-19 situation in the state. The CM explained various measures being implemented by the State government to contain COVID spread. He also informed the PM that facilities in hospitals have been improved to provide better treatment to COVID patients
