VIJAYAWADA: As many as 1,000 beds have been arranged at the Covid Care Centres set up in the choultries, guest houses and other pilgrim amenity buildings of 16 famous temples across the state for providing medical services to the infected.
With hospitals witnessing shortage of ICU and oxygen beds due to the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, the State government decided to set up Covid Care Centres and isolation centres at the temple buildings, with a minimum of five oxygen and ICU beds in each CCC, in order to tackle emergency situation.
According to the Endowment department officials, all the COVID care centres will serve as an extension of the concerned government hospital treating COVID-19 patients and the facilities have been arranged at the temples such as Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Tirumala, Durga temple in Vijayawada, Dwaraka Tirumala temple in West Godavari, Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy temple in Annavaram, Simhachalam temple, Arasavelli Suryanarayana Swamy temple, Lord Shiva temple in Pedakakani of Guntur district, Prasannanjaneya Swamy temple in Singarayakonda, Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy Varla Devasthanam in Srisailam and Jonnawada Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in Nellore.
“Based on the space available in the temple buildings, beds have been arranged to treat COVID-19 patients and doctors will monitor their activities round the clock. The centres will be used for the patients with minor to moderate symptoms who do not require ventilator support,” officials said, adding that it will reduce the burden on Covid hospitals in the State where a large number of patients are waiting for beds.