BENGALURU: As Covid-19 cases continue to go up in rural areas, the State Government is going all out to strength medical infrastructure to help patients in villages.
The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department is planning to provide vehicles to villages to transport patients to the nearest Covid Care Centre (CCC) free of cost.
Officials are looking for private partners who can donate vehicles for free. Wherever vehicles are now available, the local panchayats have been told to hire one for the next few months. There are over 6,000 panchayats in the state.
Panchayats can utilise the Rs 50,000 that had been allotted to them for various miscellaneous expenses. This apart, local task force committees have been given the responsibility of ensuring that people get vaccinated.
ICU on wheels
The State Government is also looking at ways to provide intensive care. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) converted buses that have covered 9 lakh km into ‘ICUs on wheels’, that can provide oxygen and monitor patients.
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and other state road transport corporations will develop 100 such buses that will be given to 100 backward villages that lack access to hospitals.