BENGALURU: Seeking to address a rise in demand for oxygen in government and private hospitals, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Wednesday said a demand was placed before the Central government to supply 1,500 tonnes of oxygen to the state.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had requested the Centre to provide 1,500 tonnes of oxygen on a daily basis. Sudhakar said 300 tonnes of oxygen is being earmarked for Karnataka. “Since cases are increasing, we may need 500-600 tonnes of oxygen by this month-end and 1,500 tonnes by next month-end. The CM has appealed to the Centre to provide additional quantity of oxygen. I have also requested the Union government to supply additional oxygen,” he said.
He added that there is anxiety among people to get hospitalised soon after they test positive. He pointed out that 95 per cent of positive cases do not require hospitalisation. Doctors are visiting homes of isolated patients as consultants.
Patients with mild symptoms can be isolated at hotels or alternative arrangements. It will be difficult to provide treatment to severely affected people if mildly symptomatic patients are admitted to hospital. “We need to provide oxygen and ventilators to severely symptomatic patients, doctors should take the call on this depending on the severity of cases,” Sudhakar said.
He updated that private medical colleges in Bengaluru have reserved 4,000 beds for Covid patients, medical colleges have reserved 1,000 beds, government hospitals 1,409 beds and private hospitals 7,442 beds for Covid patients.“The web portal contains all information regarding bed availability, this system will be implemented across the state,” he added.
Sudhakar said the youth should take the responsibility of vaccinating elderly people in their homes, and all those above the age of 18 should also get vaccinated. He added that 12.7 crore vaccine shots have been given across the country.