50% beds to Aarogyasri patients must, says CM Jagan Mohan Reddy

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to increase the availability of beds for Covid treatment. During a review at camp office here on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said the state has created new records in terms of conducting coronavirus tests. He said 50 per cent of beds must be provided to Aarogyasri patients in Aarogyasri empanelled hospitals and if more than that number of patients come, they also should be admitted.

He said 50 per cent of beds should be allotted to Aarogyasri patients in temporary empanelled hospitals and also in non-empanelled hospitals notified by district collector. He directed the officials to empanel the notified hospitals temporarily and allot beds. Covid treatment should be provided at free of cost in all the hospitals empanelled for Covid treatment under Aarogyasri scheme, he said and added that quality of treatment should be same in government, Aarogyasri empanelled and all other hospitals.

The Chief Minister said there should be clarity on the beds available in Aarogyasri hospitals and the beds being allotted to Aarogyasri patients in those hospitals so that they can have a clear idea on beds across the state. Explaining the process of functioning of 104 call centre, the Chief Minister said when a phone call is made to the 104 call centre, the message would go to the district, depending on the location of the patient. The collector and the district administration should respond immediately and admit patients to the respective hospitals. Medical services should be provided completely free of cost to Covid patients, he said.

Th Chief Minister said Covid care centres should be set up near all Covid hospitals so that hospital doctors also serve in those centre and added that all facilities should be available in care centres.

There are currently 108 government hospitals, 349 corporate empanelled hospitals, 47 corporate temporary empanelled hospitals and 94 private category hospitals in the state for covid treatment. Thus, there are 48,439 beds in 598 hospitals, of which 41,517 are occupied and 6,922 beds are vacant.

Of those in hospitals, 24,500 patients are being treated under Aarogyasri scheme. He said food quality, sanitation, oxygen, medical care and availability of doctors are important in Covid hospitals and instructed the officials to recruit doctors on temporary basis, if necessary.

The Chief Minister said there should be no problems in supply and storage of oxygen and added appropriate repairs should be made anywhere if necessary.

He asked the officials to make efforts to get more oxygen from the Central government and also plan for other alternatives. Every teaching hospital should have 10 kl storage capacity and other hospitals should have 1 kl storage capacity of oxygen.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that there are currently 44,236 beds in 88 Covid care centres across the state, and 13,356 patients are undergoing treatment now in those centres. The state government has recruited 16,981 staff so far this year, including medical professionals, staff nurses, technicians, data entry operators, MNOs, FNOs and sweepers. Around 420 to 500 metric tonnes of oxygen is being used daily in Covid hospitals and it is expected to reach 1,000 tonnes by the May 15, while the state has a storage capacity of only 515 tonnes, they said.

The officials said that In view of the growing demand for oxygen, the state government is requesting the Centre for tankers to transport 200 tonnes of oxygen per day from Sriperumbudur and another 200 tonnes from Bellary, as well as from Odisha. With regard to Covid vaccination, two doses of vaccine have so far been administered to 12 lakh people and single dose to 42 lakh people with a total of 66 lakh vaccines, the officials said.