CM says Karnataka aiming at 31,000 oxygen beds for Covid cases
BENGALURU:
As part of his video conference on Wednesday with various Chief Ministers on the Covid-related status in their states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to focus on nine districts where the highest number of Covid deaths have been reported.
(According to the latest data by the Karnataka Health Department, the 9 worst-affected districts in terms of fatalities are: Bengaluru Urban with 2,738 deaths, Mysuru 715, Dakshina Kannada 492, Dharwad 466, Ballari 418, Belagavi 272, Kalaburagi 262, Hassan 257 and Shivamogga 250.)
Discussion with CMs on the COVID-19 situation. https://t.co/pKY8n2MeYN
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2020
Among the Centre’s other suggestions to Karnataka were:
- Mission mode approach in the next 6 months
- Strict enforcement in containment zones and dynamically redefining them
- Regular monitoring of those in home isolation
- Increase surveillance and RT-PCR tests three-fold
The PM’s advice to Yediyurappa came during his discussions with the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab – states which have a higher number of Covid cases than the national average.
CM’s report card
For his part, Yediyurappa informed the PM that testing and infrastructure had been beefed up in the state, including 136 testing laboratories, 70,000 tests per day and 43 lakh tests undertaken so far.
The CM said the number of ambulances had been increased from 800 to 2,000, contacts were being traced within 48 hours, and the state’s fatality rate in the last week was just 1.3 per cent. The CM said the state had enough supplies of crucial medicines like Remdesivir.
ಕೋವಿಡ್19 ನಿಯಂತ್ರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದಂತೆ 7 ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಧಾನಮಂತ್ರಿ ಸನ್ಮಾನ್ಯ ಶ್ರೀ @narendramodi ರವರು ಇಂದು ನಡೆಸಿದ ವೀಡಿಯೊ ಸಂವಾದದಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಂಡು ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗತಿಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡಲಾಯಿತು. ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ಸಚಿವರು, ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಸಚಿವರು, ಹಿರಿಯ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಈ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಪಸ್ಥಿತರಿದ್ದರು. pic.twitter.com/fFUMpRAFF4
— B.S. Yediyurappa (@BSYBJP) September 23, 2020
The state currently has 10,000 oxygenated beds for Covid patients in government hospitals and 4,250 such beds in private hospitals, and is aiming at 31,000 such beds in government hospitals.
The CM requested the PM that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion be advised to incentivize oxygen manufacturers since the demand for oxygen for Covid cases was rising drastically.
Health Minister B.Sriramulu, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar and ACS to the CM EV Ramanareddy were among those present at the video conference.
